Calling in Dead
by Vive Lyf
Summary: There’s a good reason the police are called a city’s “finest”. Between coffee runs, search warrants, court dates and romantic dates, the detectives of the Hollow Bastion catch the criminal inhabitants of the world’s largest city. RS, AR, ZD, LC
1. Acronyms Don’t Make Things Simpler

_Hey guys, welcome to my first fan-fiction! (Well, okay, not my __first but the first in about 2 years and first multi-chapter one)_

_So this story is based a bit off CSI, a bit off NCIS and a bit off having a dad whose a cop. There will be some arrests, some violence, some romance some plot twists so I hope you enjoy it! I'd love to get some reviews to help me become a better writer! C:_

**Pairings**: RxS, AxR, ZxD, LxC, ect.  
Although this first chapter is told from Roxas' perspective, later chapter will change narrators. RS is probably going to be the main pairing at first.

**Summary**: After taking the fall for a devastating case in Twilight Town, Detective Roxas Kibun reenters the world of law enforcement as part of the Hollow Bastion Criminal Investigation Unit. He begins to learn that life and crime in the big city are very different from his rural hometown; problems seem to be proportionate to the population. His best friend Sora, on the other hand, is living out his dream of being the Head of Forensics for the Hallow Bastion police force. But what does one strive for when after all your dreams have already come true? From coffee runs, search warrants, court dates and romantic dates, there is a good reason the police are a city's "finest".

**Warnings**: Language, Violence, Sexual Situations… yes, we're talking yaoi, if you didn't catch that from the pairings. If that's not your sort of thing, find another fanfiction, hmm?

**Disclaimer**: [sarcasm] I own Kingdom Hearts. Every little bit of the awesome game you play. Just wanted to let you guys know. [/sarcasm]  
(Really, why does everyone put there there? Does anyone reading these actually think the authors are from Square Enix? Oh well.)

* * *

**Chapter 1: Acronyms Don't Make Things Any Less Complicated**

Standing outside the large grey building, Roxas felt his prior determination waver. It had only been a week since he had quit his job in Twilight Town and only a few hours since crossing the border into Hollow Bastion. During the drive, he had felt confident about taking the job Sora had pulled strings to get him. Make a new start, in a new town, with new friends and enemies. Hopefully more of the former than the latter.

Now, as the time to start his first day as a detective for the Hollow Bastion Criminal Investigative Unit arrived, he wasn't so sure. A few annoyances during the trip combined with first day jitters started the day off badly. He had burnt his breakfast in an attempt to get out of his old apartment on time and then ended up spilling coffee all over the blackened toast in the car. The drive over had been mostly uneventful until he had reached the city limits. Poor drivers on old country roads in Twilight Town couldn't compare to the homicidal rage of city drivers. Some silver-haired jerk had even cut him off in the headquarter parking lot, stealing the space he had been pulling into. One might expect better behavior outside the police headquarters but then again the city wasn't known for its warm and fuzzys population.

He wasn't sure how Sora put up with city life; his normally peppy, laidback friend would be so out of place in the informal rush of Hollow Bastion. Like any trained law enforcement agent, Roxas always looked for the logical answer. There was a reason the brunet had chosen a dismal city over the sunny beaches of Sora's hometown or the quiet intimacy of Twilight Town. And Roxas was determined to find out what that was.

But not _so_ determined anymore. He would have liked to have said that it was Sora's enthusiasm for working together for the first time since high school that helped him gather the courage to walk into the building but really it was the reality that calling in sick on your first day of work probably wasn't a good way to start out.

True, being in law enforcement had been his childhood dream; he was one of the few people who could truly say that he had the job he had wanted when he was five. He had a knack for investigating, or so he was told, and he really couldn't imagine himself doing anything else with his life.

That assurance didn't stop the memories, or _bad karma spirits_ as Sora would have labeled them, of Roxas' rather dishonorable discharge from his previous job. He wasn't fired, not officially, but he had been told in a discreet manner that it would be better for him and the department if he quit. And he did. The kind of management that would let one of their own detectives take the fall for a corporate mistake wasn't the kind he wanted to be associated with.

Really, it was probably for the best. The situation in Twilight Town had been getting out of hand, as Sora could probably attest to from their many, long phone conversations on the subject. It was time to stop mucking around in the past and get on with the present. He grabbed firmly onto this forward attitude before it slipped back into his usual pessimism and finally forced himself to walk through the large glass doors of the police headquarters.

The lobby entrance was modern, with neutral colors and sharp geometric shapes worked into the architecture. Roxas was impressed; the impersonal command of Hollow Bastion was much more intimidating than the rustic and homey Twilight Town station. He had never quite understood why the TTPD had strived to make its headquarters feel inviting when the majority of people frequenting the building were either cops or criminal, neither of whom needed to be coddled by cozy scenery.

A look around the room, with its various doors and outgoing hallways, reminded Roxas that he had absolutely no idea where he was going. He could feel the print out of an e-mail Sora had sent him with directions crinkled in his pocket but it hadn't been much help thus far. Sora's direction giving ability was about as good as his driving, both having the prospect of causing bodily harm to those stupid enough to trust them.

He spotted a map conveniently placed to the side of the entrance. The sheer size of Hollow Bastion had not yet ceased to amaze him. Even the police headquarters was large enough to require its own directory. Roxas casually strolled over to it, trying his best to not look as lost as he was. To his dismay, the map was done completely in acronyms and Sora's short-handed e-mail listed only "Major Case" as the title of his new unit. Who knew so many units had the initials "MC" in them? Who knew there could be so many units in general? Twilight Town only had Homicide, White-collar and Civil divisions, named for the types of crimes they investigated. Hollow Bastion units didn't seem to be named for their assignments or for anything remotely related to their function. The alphabet soup of a map told him nothing except that the building was in the general shape of an upside down U and possessed way too many floors to be efficient.

Roxas headed towards the help desk in middle of the room. The blond behind the counter applying her make-up didn't look especially promising in the way of useful information but Roxas was ready to attempt anything in order to avoid calling Sora to admit he was lost.

He stood by the desk awkwardly, waiting for her to "feel" his presence, a common interrogation technique he hoped would set him apart from being another lost tourist. She looked up a second later, quickly putting the make-up brush down and flashing him a wide smile.

"Welcome to the Hollow Bastion Criminal Investigative Unit. Is there something I can help you with?"

The homicide department in Twilight Town had been TTHD, affectionately called "thud". Roxas had no idea what sort of acronym pronunciation the HBCIU used, if any. And he had no idea how the hell they had found anyone willing to say the entire title out to anyone who walked in. He let the pity show through with a friendly smile back at her.

"I'm actually looking for the Major Case wing, specifically the captain or whoever new detectives would report to. It's my first day, and…"

He didn't like how her face lit up with understanding and worse, excitement.

"Oh, my god, you're Roxas! Sora didn't tell me today was your first day!" The woman actually stood up and leaned over the desk, holding out a hand, which Roxas accepted uneasily.

"Um, yeah, this is my first day, but Sora's directions…"

She laughed all too knowingly, making him wonder what sort of catastrophe Sora's direction had already caused. "If that's all you had to go on, we're lucky you didn't end up in the Pride Lands! Here, let me jot you down something better…"

Roxas heard the click of a pen followed by a ferocious amount of scribbling and was presented with precise directions to the Major Case wing. There seemed to be an awful lot of writing to navigate through the building but the earlier map reminded him of just how big the place was.

Spotting another woman coming around behind the desk, he beat a hasty retreat with a quick thanks to the blond and continued onto the hallway leading out of the main room. He heard the tell-tale giggles of females with gossip coming from behind him and sighed in relief. He had barely made it out in time.

Carefully counting down the doorways, hallways and stairs, Roxas was only half-paying attention to the busy activity in every room he passed. Well dressed people rushed back and forth between their better dressed higher-ups and their fretful clients. Technicians in lab coats pushed their way through crowded areas, small glass vials held above their heads to prevent jostling.

He made a turn into a decent sized room, his final destination or so the instructions said. A glance around located the words "Major Case Division" plastered on one wall, although he could have sworn that the title had not been on the map. The Major Case offices were really more like cubicles set up in the center of the room with a dividers sectioning off partnered desks. These he regarded uneasily; he had really been hoping to work solo. He did not envision city cops being accepting of his small town methods.

The people working at the desks were definitely detectives and yet Roxas couldn't help but scan the group for Sora. In Twilight Town, lab techs and detectives didn't mix, ever, and since Sora was the head of the forensics department Roxas had doubted he would see the brunet out and about. But here he saw a blond female in a white coat leaning on the desk of a silver-haired detective. More evidence of how restricted Twilight Town was and much he had to get use to in the big city.

No, he hadn't been expecting to see Sora, which is why when he spotted the brunet running at him at mach speed he wasn't able to dodge the full-bodied glomp. And it was only after being knocked to the floor that he noticed the man who had been chasing Sora.

"GOD FUCKING DAMN SORA, GET BACK HERE OR I'LL COME _RAPE_ YOU! DID YOU HEAR ME? RAPE!"

Roxas just stared blankly at the fired-up red-head. Years of being the quick wit fell away as he gazed at Sora's attacker. He probably would have been staring stupidly at the man's hair, pointy and _red_, even if he hadn't just threatened to sexually violate his best friend in the middle of a police headquarters.

The man snatched Sora off the floor and proceeded to shake him with vicious force.

"Goddamn it Sora that was my last twenty bucks! My LAST TWENTY! You couldn't have lied about the results? How will I eat? How will I pay for gas? How will I-"

"You're going to have a bigger problem than eating, Hanabi, if you don't put him down."

Roxas had been about to jump in tooth and nail in order to protect Sora from the man's onslaught but the voice stopped him. There was something about the tone that made Roxas think twice before acting. The red-head seemed to be having the same thought, because he immediately froze, allowing Sora to slip out of his grasp and dart between the cubicles.

"Leon!"

The approaching man was undoubtedly the owner of the voice. Cold grey eyes and chin-length brown hair paired with the black leather jacket and silver chain-link necklace, Roxas could easily imagine the grim-reaper's scythe in the his unforgiving hands.

Sora latched onto the man's arm, giving him his signature "kicked puppy" look in full-force. Roxas doubted such a man would be worried about kicked puppies, but the red-head obviously thought he was screwed. He held his hands up in the universal sign for "please, dear God, don't kill me" but Roxas didn't see the scary man stopping for that, either.

"C'mon Leon, I had money on the brother! He was a creep. He deserved to go to jail, not the old neighbor. Obviously, Sora made a mistake-"

"I don't make mistakes, Leon, you know that!"

"-and I was suggesting to him that we double check the results-"

"Which I already did!"

"-before sending an innocent man-"

"You only care about your stupid money!"

"-and my 20 bucks, down the drain."

Grim didn't look impressed with their quick fire argument. "Results should always be double checked. Sora triple checks them. A fact you can mention in your report, which will be on my desk by lunchtime."

"Which I will get right on as soon as I-"

"Now, Hanabi."

The red-head obviously had enough with tempting fate for the day, because he immediately backed down and mumbled some sort of affirmation. After one last glare from Grim and a triumphant look from Sora, he slunk off to an empty desk towards the right side of the room to the laughter of the others in the office. Sora stuck out his tongue as final measure of victory and then ran back over to Roxas, giving him a proper greeting and less violent hug.

"Roxas! Welcome back to Hollow Bastion, home of the Hollow Bastion Criminal Investigative Unit! And no, we don't have a cute acronym, so don't even try, which you probably already did but I don't recommend doing it again. Did you meet that lady at the front desk? I know you always complain about my directions, so I told her to watch out for you and she can say the name really fast. I tried to say it my first day and I almost missed all of the introductory information which wasn't good because you really have to know what everything is before you touch it especially with chemicals because the city pays for all sorts of expensive chemicals and-"

"Hi to you too Sora", he said throwing an arm affectionately around the brunet. Sora could be hard to deal with at times, but Roxas had missed him during their brief separation between high school and now. Phone conversations and e-mail were all well and good but nothing beat being face to face with the friend he considered his twin.

The brunet beamed at him, then turned to Grim who was still lurking with his scythe behind his back. "Leon! This is Roxas, the one I was telling you about. Roxas meet Leon, Director of Hollow Bastion's super duper crime fighting force!"

Roxas might have scolded Sora for using "super duper" in public after turning 24 if Grim, err, _Leon_, hadn't thrust a hand awkwardly out towards him first. He took it, giving the man a firm hand shake that would make every good job interview help book proud.

Leon gave him a less stoic nod of approval and released his hand. "Welcome to Major Case, Kibun." Roxas was a bit relieved to find that not everyone was so informal as to use first names. From Sora it was endearing, from others it was bordering disrespectful.

"And that creeper of a detective you met earlier was Axel." Sora said, rolling his eyes before turning to Leon. "Alright, introductions all done. Can I have him now, Leon?"

To Roxas' surprise, the captain actually smiled at Sora. "He's all yours." He turned to Roxas. "Sora will be giving you a quick tour of the wing and then you'll come back here for assignment. Understood?" Roxas could only nod in response.

Sora grabbed Roxas' hand impatiently, dragging him around the desks and towards an elevator on the opposite side of the room from the entry doors. Axel seemed to have either gotten over his annoyance with Sora or allowed his curiosity with Roxas to take over, as Roxas caught him staring at them before the elevator doors closed.

Taking his mind off of Axel, Roxas finally was able to ask the question he'd wanted to ask since talking to Sora about his job problems three weeks ago. "How the hell did you manage to get me a midlevel detective job without an interview or anything?"

Sora put on his signature goofy smile, blushing with pride. "Well, I showed Leon your résumé and I've told him all about you and your work… anyway, Leon use to be a detective until a month ago when he was promoted to Head of the Department. Our old captain got caught up in a scandal and took two detectives down with him so they've been looking for replacements for awhile now and I figured I'd mention you. Besides, it worked out in the end, right?"

Roxas smiled back. "Sure. I mean, thanks Sora."

Unaccustomed to getting praise from his usually sarcastic friend, Sora turned back towards the elevator doors to hide his blush.

As the elevator continued downward, Roxas remembered that he had never asked where they were headed.

"Only the bestest place in the facility!" Sora turned towards Roxas, who only stared in response. "You know…"

Roxas obviously didn't.

Sora put hands on his hips and glared at Roxas. All blue eyes and brown hair, he had never been very intimidating before but after watching Leon in action the effect was even less frightening. "My lab, of course!"

Roxas made "ah" noise of agreement to please him as the doors of the elevator slid open, revealing a large room full of various machines.

The quiet hum of the technology was almost alien, with multi-colored lights blinking randomly throughout the room and the occasional apparatus reconfiguring itself helping to solidify the feeling. Childhood memories of robot take-over movies flowed into Roxas' brain. If technology ever decided it was better than humanity, this lab would be the first to rise up.

Taking a closer look at the buzzing grey boxes, Roxas noticed the small googly eyes attached to every machine in the room. He couldn't help but smile; Sora left his impression on everything. He was in the middle of contemplating whether the eyes made the machines more or less terrifying when Sora grabbed his arm and resumed dragging him through their tour.

Reaching the center, Sora released his hand and flung his arms up in the air. "_Voila_! My kingdom!"

The buzz of the machines was the only response.

Sora frowned lightly at Roxas' lack of excitement, but the other boy was still attempting to take in the machines, the hum, _the eyes_.

Grabbing a crate from behind the door, Sora moved it to the center of the room and stepped up on it, the ring leader over looking his circus. He flung his voice across the room, above the gentle humming.

"Over there is the DNA Analyzer with interchangeable block thermal cycler multiplex capabilities." He mimicked an announcer with his wild hand gestures as he pointed out each object. "Next to it are the Bioanalyzer and spectrophotometer. The ballistics systems and projection microscopes are located here, in the center of the room. To your left by the window is AFIS, or our automatic fingerprint identification system, and scanner to nab those criminal stupid enough to leave prints. On the right we have the electron microscope for picking up gunshot residue. And over there…"

He trailed off, finally noticing that his fancy announcing had not attracted Roxas' focus. The blond was still staring quizzically at the nearest pair of eyes. Noticing a slight movement in the doorway, Sora grinned with a plot to command Roxas' attention.

"Oh, my god, Roxas, A VAMPIRE!"

Responding more to the sudden "oh my god" than the "vampire", as any person who worked the streets and had been under fire would, Roxas flung himself around to face his enemy… and came face to face with a vampire. Standing in the doorway of Sora's lab.

Crimson eyes were the dead give away, but the red trench coat and long, black hair didn't help conceal his identity. For brief second, a very brief second, Roxas actually regretted not having been issued a gun yet. He shook the ridiculous thought out of his head as soon as it appeared. Vampires didn't exist. That didn't make the man in the doorway any less frightening.

They all stood there awkwardly quiet for a moment.

Finally, the vampire/man sighed. "Sora, I'm not a… vampire. Please stop telling people that." His deep, alluring voice didn't help to destroy the magical image stuck in Roxas' mind.

Giggling from behind the doorway snapped Roxas out of his mesmerized state. Two very amused women, one dressed in gothic black dress and the other in mini-skirt and sleeve-less top stood behind the vampire. Their ease helped him to focus once again on the poor man who was obviously the victim of Sora's overactive imagination.

The vamp-man sighed again and Roxas couldn't help but take a step back, much to Sora's and the women's delight. Sora finally straightened up and went to stand between his friend and his stooge.

"Roxas, this is Vincent, one of the techies here in the lab." A rambunctious smile flashed across his face. He held a hand up to his mouth and conspiratorially whispered to Roxas, "He's in denial about becoming a vampire." He beamed at Vincent.

Roxas felt himself turn red. Obviously these people knew and had dealt with Sora's quirks but he had been hoping to project a better image of himself then he had for going along with it. "Oh, er, nice to meet you", sticking his hand out in an attempt to redeem himself with the other man.

Vincent accepted the handshake and they both shared a long-suffering, understanding look as Sora cackled in the background.

"It's good to meet you as well, Roxas." Vincent released his hand. "Sora has told us a great deal about you. You will be an excellent addition to the squad."

Roxas couldn't respond, his blush increasing at the man's praise. Just how much had Sora told them about him? He vented some anger by glaring at Sora and then the females as they joined in.

"Oh, give the boy a break. It's not the newbie's fault that we've got some weird people working here." One of the women had moved in to throw an arm affectionately around Vincent.

"Tifa Lockhart," she said, pointing to her own chest, "and that bundle of joy and optimism over there is Lulu", she said, waving her arm in the other woman's general direction. "We're Sora's underlings. You'll have to meet the rest of tech gang, Cid, Yuffie and Naminé, later because they're off in court at the moment."

The idea of Sora, his spontaneous, goofy best friend Sora, having underlings was a little unnerving but they seemed to respect him and even his supervisors in Twilight Town had admitted that Hollow Bastion had an outstanding forensics lab. Roxas couldn't help but be proud of his friend who had managed to become Hollow Bastion's youngest Head of Forensics.

"Bah, I would be ashamed to call such slackers underlings. We have killers to catch! What are you doing standing around here laughing at poor Vincent?" Sora scolded them jokingly, aware that he was needed to sign off on all results and he had yet to start on the day's paperwork. "Seriously though, I'm just going to finish up with Roxas and then I'll be back to go over the evidence from the Dragons case." Tifa gave him a mock salute. Lulu rolled her eyes and allowed herself and Vincent to be dragged off by Tifa after a final nod to Roxas.

Sora motioned Roxas to follow him, moving through the doors the others had just left from. "Dragons case?" Roxas asked after a minute of taking in the new hallway. It was lined with glass windows looking into various rooms that appeared to be for research. There was also a comfortable looking lounge complete with refrigerator, microwave and flat-screened TV. Roxas thought he might have noticed a Wii hooked up to the TV but Sora was moving too quickly to be sure.

"Yeah, the Huns are the local gang that has been particularly active recently. We think they're targeting members of an old gang that use to run the Hun's territory before being driven out but we can't figure out why. There's a ton of forensics from the killings but so far we haven't got anything to match it to. Leon will probably fill you in with more details after you get settled in."

They wandered around the floor for awhile before once again taking the elevator down. "The basement is where evidence lock-up is. You're the newest agent, so it'll probably be your job to take down or bring up evidence for the case."

The man behind the desk of the evidence room, whom Sora introduced as "Brother", was a lanky man with blond Mohawk-type hairstyle (Roxas was starting to believe outlandish hair was a requirement to work here, and he wondered if his employment had anything to do with the amount of hair spray he used). Roxas shot a questioning look at Sora, feeling a little uncomfortable calling a stranger "brother" but Sora just shrugged and murmured that he didn't speak much English and that's all Rikku ever called him so the name stuck. His response didn't comfort Roxas, leaving him with even more questions about the foreign green-eyed man.

After an awkward good bye to Brother, the two headed towards their final destination on the tour, the detectives' offices. The cubicles in the main room had started filling up since they'd left and Roxas noticed that the red-head from before now had a blond mullet (a mullet, really?) sitting at the desk across from him. Both were deeply involved in game of paper football which promptly disappeared when Leon walked into the room.

Two female partners stood together by one of their desks, apparently going over a report of some sort. They were complete opposites physically; one in a red and black gothic ensemble that could have been the love child of Vincent and Lulu while the other sported a more childish look complete with tank-top and pony-tail. It was hard to imagine two such different people working well together but in law-enforcement, the saying "opposite attract" held special meaning. A good partnership was one where you could count on the other to bring in knowledge and experience of things you'd never dealt with before.

The blond lab technician from before was walking away from the detective desks, leaving her silver haired companion to work on what also seemed to be some sort of paperwork. Reports were undoubtedly the bane of any detective's life.

Sora crossed his arms and watched Roxas survey the room. "So, uh, yeah. This is probably where you'll be spending most of your time. Here in Major Case we work the high-profile cases, big time murders, serial killers, kidnappings etc. Desks are grouped by specialties and then partners. You'll somewhere over there", he pointed in the general direction of Axel and his partner, "with the others on homicide. The other side is swat, which I would avoid if I were you, they tend to be the most high strung of the detectives, and the desks in the middle are for our undercover officers", this time motioning to the two women, "although they're not around enough to really use them."

Leon, who had stopped briefly to talk with the blond lab assistant, now made his way over to Sora and Roxas. "Feel like you've got a grip on the surroundings?"

Roxas didn't but nodded anyway, knowing he'd learn better by jumping into the work. Leon turned and made a hand gesture to another detective who had joined Axel and his partner at their desks. Roxas recognized the man immediately; it wasn't that he was prone to road-rage or anything, but it was hard to forget being cut off by a silver-haired man in the parking lot of a government agency. He also knew what was coming. Just when the day was starting to look up, fate had a way of tearing it all down.

As the man walked over to their group, smiling in response to Sora's enthusiastic wave, Leon turned to Roxas and said the words he didn't want to hear.

"Roxas, meet your new partner, Riku Jenova."

* * *

_Bah, hopefully the whole thing with Riku wasn't too obvious. I just like the tension between Roxas and Riku. And hopefully the other characters aren't too OCC... I've only played FFX and KH and I needed more characters than I could pull from those two games._

_Anyway, hopefully you enjoyed the first chapter and will stick with me for more. I promise it will get more exciting as the plot starts to develop. I apologize for any errors, I don't have a beta so its very possible I may have missed something. English is my second language and even though I've been speaking it fluently for years I still get mixed up with verb tenses. D:_

_Please review, if only to say you enjoyed it or didn't. Constructive criticism would be extremely helpful to me as well._


	2. You Are What You Drive

**Chapter 2: You Are What You Drive**

Sora couldn't help but laugh quietly as Roxas and Riku sized up one another. He was trying to pay attention to Leon's briefing, knowing full well that the other two weren't and they would expect a full summery later, but the tension between them was so palpable it was hard to ignore.

Okay, so maybe it was a little ironic that Riku had been the one who cut Roxas off in the parking lot. And of course Riku's "Hell no, I don't want to carry around a newbie, especially one who can't even park" probably wasn't the best way to introduce himself to Roxas. And it was certainly awkward when Roxas told Riku to stop making "bedroom eyes" at Sora (not that he was…) but Sora didn't understand why they couldn't at least _pretend_ to get along? At least until Leon left… facilitating the murder of one of your employees by another employee probably wasn't the best way to start off a term as Captain.

It would sure make for an easy case though, with all the other detectives around as witnesses and plenty of physical evidence at the scene. The two detectives' DNA was already in the system too. Not that he wanted Roxas to go to jail. Or Riku, or…

He felt his phone go off in his pocket, grounding his run-a-way train of thought. The vibrations were so strong that the sound was almost as loud as a normal ringtone would have been. He got a few annoyed looks from the surrounding detectives. So what if he was the only techie here? He'd bet that Leon trusted him far more than anyone else in this room, with the exception of Riku and maybe Axel. He was Head of Forensics. He was the one that made sure all their little search warrants and arrest warrants could be backed in front of a judge. He gussied up for court almost every week to present his complicated findings in a way that the common juror could understand. He deserved to be here.

Stopping that thinking before he burst out into a lecture on how criminal technicians were underappreciated, he retrieved the phone and flipped it open. He skimmed the text message, ignoring Leon's disapproving glare as his Captain caught sight of his requested guest ignoring the meeting outright. Sora hoped his lackeys had something good. He wasn't disappointed. The atmosphere needed some positive energy, what with the serial killer briefing, the missing kid and the mental war going beside him.

Glancing at the others attending the briefing and finding that most weren't from their department, he motioned Leon over for a private conversation. No need to go spreading their case details with those not assigned to it. Leon gave a brief dismissal to the group, asking in conclusion for all officers to be on the lookout for cases fitting the killers M.O., and then stalked over to their corner. A scowl appeared on his scarred face when he caught sight of Roxas' and Riku's private "conversation". Sora half-thought to warn them but perhaps a good glare from Frosty McCreepertin would help them get over themselves. It had certainly helped Axel and himself.

Said red-head seemed to have the same thoughts, giving the approaching man his best Cheshire Cat smile while reaching out under the table to slip a ten into Naminé's outstretched hands. Demyx caught Sora's eyes and rolled his own, coughing up a ten himself and giving it to their forensic artist as well. Even without hearing the bet, Sora knew Axel was hoping for a public humiliation while Demyx was betting on personal yet sarcastic remark. Had Sora been sitting on their side of the table he would have gone for the long and detailed lecture after everyone else had left.

Of course, as Head of Forensics, he had never sunken down to betting on his coworkers. Never. That's what the lackeys were for but they were away in lab so he kept his money.

Drawing close to the feuding partners, Leon leaned down between them and whispered, "Jenova, Kibun, do we need to get you a room or would you like to share your secret love with the rest of us?"

Demyx did a subtle fist-pound into the air and accepted his winnings from Naminé.

Roxas slowly turned to face their superior while Riku found an interesting spot on the table to focus on.

"It's good to know you two can ignore missing 4 year-olds without regret. That's the kind of hard-ass guys we need in this place. In fact, why don't you two take over the case? When you find him, just smother him and dispose of the body in a public place as a warning to other kidnapped kids that we don't give a shit about them. And then why don't you find another kid to hand over to this psychopath. I mean, you think this guy is doing us all a favor, am I correct?"

So maybe Leon on "intense" mode wasn't what Roxas needed during his first week. Sora was sure that if his eyes got any wider they would become stuck in that position. Then they'd have to move him to night shift because he'd be able to see in the dark and the only way Sora would be able to talk with him would be to buy some giant light and install it on the roof of their building that he could use to call Roxas from his lair like Batman...

Sora didn't realize he had laughed out loud at his Roxas-Batman image until the others were staring at him, their expressions ranging from Riku's relieved look to Leon looking as if he was going to throw Sora into a mental institute.

"Err." He tried to come up with a way to explain himself. "Dun na na na na na na na?"

The silenced dragged on. Sensing Sora's growing discomfort, Demyx jumped into his rescue, popping up from his seat and screaming "Batman!"

The blond ran over to Sora and gave him a big high five.

Leon stood, pinching the bridge of his nose while the others chuckled, some sounding more forced than others. Roxas and Riku actually shared a relieved look until they realized that the motion was a step towards being decent to each other and resumed glaring.

Catching Leon about to launch into a different disciplinary tactic, Sora broke in before he lost his chance to share his team's findings. "Oh! Leon! I have some results from the Dragons case!"

With one last final look at the feuding partners, Leon turned to lean over Sora. "What have you got for me, Sky?"

Sora drew up closer to the much taller Leon, aware that some of the other detectives where taking their time exiting the conference in hopes of catching some news of their case. The fact that Leon's division was the corporate favorite for investigating high profile crimes was well known and other officers tended to be curious about the workings of such an elite squad.

Undoubtedly the few remaining were questioning their reverence of the Major Case unit after his "Batman" outburst. It was for the better, really.

"I think we may finally have some evidence worth presenting to a judge. Cid narrowed down the list of previous gangs in the basin area to those that had some connection to the Land of the Dragons which is where we think the Huns started their operation. There's one, the Red Army, which worked the weapons exchange between Hollow Bastion and the Land of the Dragons, which had some run-ins with the Huns. It disbanded a few months after the Huns took over its main supply route."

Leon ran a hand through his hair, tugging on the ends and leaned in closer. "Gives us somewhere to start at least. Got any more information on this 'Red Army'?"

Sora shook his head, frowning at Leon. "C'mon, you didn't think I called you over hear just for that, did you? You're losing your detective touch in that captain's seat." Leon rolled his eyes, knowing full well that Sora had been one of his biggest supporters for the promotion. "The leader of the Red Army has kicked the bucket since the gang disbanded. His second in command, however, is still a citizen of our lovely little city. He goes by the name Fa Zhou. No criminal activity since the end of the gang but I figure he might know something about why the Huns want to see their old rivals dead when they're not even a threat. I've got Yuffie running our vics against known Red Army gang members and I'm hoping we'll get a hit."

"I know you will," Leon replied, straightening as he motioned for Axel and Demyx to move in. "Hanabi, Kawa, I want you two to go talk to Zhou. See if he knows either vics and whether he has some idea about why he Huns are going after his fellow gang members."

Axel smiled. "They do always seem to care more when they could be a potential target." He and Demyx gathered their papers and headed out of the briefing room to collect their equipment. He turned to Roxas and Riku, who had laid their differences aside for the moment in hopes of getting a decent assignment. "Jenova, Kibun, I want you two looking for similarities between our vics that might give Yuffie something more to go off of. If we find a link between these two and a particular gang we might have enough to start some real detective work. In the meantime, get something to eat." He smiled as Riku moaned, knowing full well what that meant for the pair. "You've got a long day ahead of you."

* * *

Aside from giving them a new lead on the case, Sora was thankful for the team's findings because it had caused Leon to end what could have been a lengthy meeting just in time for lunch.

Contemplating his food choices as he walked down the hallway towards the entrance, Sora didn't notice Riku's stealthy approach until the other boy poked him lightly in the back and fell into pace beside him with an easy smile. How he had managed to catch up to him must have only been thanks to his too-goddam long legs. Sora hated being reminded of his petit figure. Even Roxas had sprouted up a few inches since he had last seen him.

He really needed shorter friends.

Unaware of Sora's mental disgruntlements, Riku grinned, looking way too happy than anyone who had been arguing with a partner they didn't want and had then been yelled at by Leon had right to be. "Ready to convince some munchkins that you're a god and they should follow in your footsteps?"

Sora cursed silently. Leave it to Riku to remember his schedule better than he did. Today was his tutoring day.

Most of those interested in criminal justice and its related careers went to the academy, which specialized in the fields that were employed at the institution. Having been at the top of his class and the only one of those top members to have been truly successful in his field thus far, the school had requested that Sora do some "life tutoring" of their best and brightest students. They hoped he could help convince more lab technicians to stick with the science side of crime fighting, since a good number of forensic graduates eventually left the labs for street duty and detective work.

The nearest clock read 11:43, just in time to catch the shuttle. Sora grimaced. He didn't have anything against public transportation, no, he was all for saving the planet, going green and all that other fun stuff. It was the person driving the shuttle that made him fear for his life and his innocence.

The driver of Hollow Bastion Criminal Investigative Unit's shuttle was not a good-looking lady. Sora had been in-tune with his sexuality from a young age, so while he knew almost nothing about what constituted as an "attractive" female he was pretty sure his heterosexual counterparts would not considered her appealing. She, however, found him _very_ attractive. Her roaming hands and the way she could make everything she said sound like one of Axel's sexual innuendos made for a very uncomfortable shuttle ride.

The obvious solution would be to buy a car. He had gotten his permit and completed the required driving hours before going to college but had never found the time to set a court date for his license. Then a mandatory structural engineering class had shown him the many fatal flaws of "five star safety rated" cars. Combined with his rather poor driving ability (he'd really only received his permit because Roxas' parents had know the instructor), Sora decided against getting a license and therefore against getting a car. As long as he had good friends, he'd thought, he could just carpool with them.

Except at lunch time. You can never count on friends at lunch time. It's a little thing called priorities that says no one wants to go out of their way to drop you off at the academy when the cop-friendly restaurants offering much needed discounts were on the other side of the city.

Contemplating his future agony at the hands of the shuttle lady, Sora missed most of Riku's comments as they walked down the many hallways leading from their division to the front parking lot and shuttle stop. Hoping that Riku didn't notice his earlier lack of response, Sora paid extra close attention to his friend now, looking for something that would hint at the topic of conversation.

"-so I figured I'd offer you a ride to the academy. Not only do I get to spend time with you but I also get an excuse to not have lunch with the newbie." Riku flashed his most flirtatious smile, the one that would have all the girls and most of the guys bowing before him.

Sora didn't really see the smile. He heard only two words, "ride" and "academy". A halo and wings appeared around the already angelic silveret. He was all set to give Riku his signature glomp-hug when someone reached and grabbed his arm, pulling him back away from the now more demonic looking Riku.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, newbie?" It was amazing how fast Riku could change personalities. The man had the most mood swings of anyone Sora knew.

Roxas just gave his partner a cheeky smile. "Oh, it just a rule of the best friend club. Don't let creepy men drag fellow members to their cars alone." He made a move to herd Sora away.

Instead, Sora pulled out of his grip and stood between the two aggressors. "Guys, I don't mean to complain or, y'know, break up this lovely moment but I really need a ride. Could we get over our differences for the next few minutes? I don't want to be molested by an ugly woman!" He closed his eyes, put his hands together in front of his face and prayed for peace between his car-owning friends.

He kept his eyes closed as the two deliberated silently. He couldn't bear to watch his chance slip away in the tides of confrontation. Finally he heard Riku sigh and cracked one eye open to watch his friend run his hands through his hair. Riku always touched his hair when he was frustrated or unhappy. Considering giving Sora a ride would involve Roxas, it could be a good sign…

"What if… we all go to the academy?" Riku held his hand up as Roxas began to protest. "We can all go in my car, so Sora is safe from the shuttle and you can learn where the academy is for future reference. Unless you'd like Sora to write up some directions for you?" He smirked as Sora stuck his tongue out at him for the obvious jab at his navigation ability. Sora knew his way to the academy… mostly. "We'll drop Sora off and then I'll show you where the best restaurants are. A few give some pretty big discounts to cops and on our salaries we need all the help we can get."

Sora didn't say anything. Riku being _decent_ to someone he disliked was a rare occurrence and Sora didn't want to break him out of whatever trance he had been put in. He did, however, send up another prayer of thanks.

Roxas, although obviously not happy with the idea, took one look at Sora's pitiful face and reluctantly agreed. The three soon found themselves speeding out of the parking lot in Riku's car.

No, not _car_. His Ford Mustang Shelby GT500, a name which Riku had practically forced Sora to memorize. No one called Riku Jenova's ride a _car_.

Truthfully though, Sora wasn't even sure if he put all the names together correctly and he certainly had no idea what they meant. The only thing he knew was that the car was probably just a flimsy and as much of a death trap as any other car that had been in that structural engineering lecture. And at 14 miles to the gallon he had no idea how Riku managed to drive it all over the city and still have money left for food.

From the look on Roxas' face, the blond didn't even know how someone living off a detective's salary could afford a $46,000 car in the first place. It wasn't so hard to understand when you knew that Riku's father, Sephiroth Jenova, just happened to be the Mayor of Hollow Bastion. And although father and son were estranged now, the car had been a gift during better times.

"So tell me more about this "Dragons" case. Sora only gave me the general story and Leon's briefing keeps getting put off." Roxas leaned forward between the two front seats where Riku and Sora sat. Being the smallest there, Sora had offered to sit in the compact back seat but Riku had adamantly insisted he ride in the front. Roxas hadn't made too much of a fuss over it, so here they were, Sora stretched out in the unneeded space and Roxas shifting around in an attempt to get comfortable.

Riku, noticing Roxas' fidgeting, only scowled and muttered, "It's built for two people, which is how many should be going on this little outing," under his breath but Sora interrupted before another fight broke out.

"Well, it started as just another gang-related murder until the second and third body showed up. All killed in signature Hun style and all left out in the open on Hun territory. It's just not like them to leave such obvious clues about their hits so we started trying to link the killings together and came up with some old gang affiliations. All the vics were older guys who had apparently been part of some other gang back in the day."

"Or one crazy fraternity," Riku chimed in, having apparently given up sulking over Roxas' presence. "They all share an old style sword tattoo on their chests but without prints we have no solid way of matching the bodies up with identities. And we have so many small-time and short-lived gangs in the city, the tattoos alone aren't enough. Without IDs, we can kiss any sort of search warrant good bye. Gang lawyers are good about turning search warrants based on hunches into police harassment. So there was really nothing we could do to get close to these sickly old prunes before they shrivel up for good."

Giving Riku a scolding look for referring to the elderly in such a degrading manner, Sora picked up where he left off. "We did some digging and managed to narrow down the list of possible gangs based on how old the victims are, where the gang's range was and whether the gang had any connection to the Land of the Dragons, which is where the Huns originate from. Gangs usually don't bother with each other unless some part overlaps. The Red Army was the only one that fit and only surviving member we could find is Zhou. He's been clean for years, not even a driving ticket since the gang-"

A quiet, "Not that guys that old and blind do a lot of driving", came from the direction of the driver's seat.

"-but that doesn't mean we can't try to nail him for something associated with the old gang and hope to get some info about his case from the interrogation." Sora turned to Riku, motioning for him to jump in.

"That's where we come in." Riku looked up into the rearview mirror to catch Roxas' eye. "You're the newbie so we'll probably be focusing on the old cases instead of the real detective work." Roxas visible bristled at the accusatory tone. The stab was a bit unfair, as he hadn't been the one to pair them together. "Our job will be to investigate unsolved crimes that were linked to the Red Army during their short run and see if we can find something that the Huns might be interested in now. It means a lot of paperwork and a lot of interviews, which will introduce you to the big time court system. No hick town policies here. Whatever you were use to in Twilight Town will have to be beat out of you and I have so thoughtfully been assigned the job." Riku smiled hugely into the rearview mirror at his partner.

Instead of getting into another argument, like Sora expected him to, Roxas decided to look out the window, possibly to cool his temper. The Roxas Sora had known would have never had the control he had now. It was weird to see his childhood friend acting so much more… mature. Five years of street duty would do that to you, he supposed.

The rest of the ride was filled with friendly chatter between Riku and himself consisting mostly of him bringing up current events and Riku chiming in with his opinion every once in awhile. It was these moments Sora lived for, the quiet times to enjoy close friendships, even with Roxas' silent brooding darkening the atmosphere.

After a few minutes of idle chit-chat the academy came into view. A large grey building, what the headquarters showed as prestige, the academy brandished for intimidation. Admissions officials used whatever they could to weed out the less than fully dedicated recruits, including keeping the entry grounds as dismal as possible. A chorus of gun fire could be heard radiating off the surrounding buildings. It was only after completing two successful years at the academy that students could use the firing ranges and even then it was only on administration approved days; the sound meant that there were some very eager, and armed, recruits about. Fantastic.

Riku pulled up to the side door that was the closest way to the lab section of the academy, knowing from experience from driving Sora to his meetings and appointments. With a quick farewell to Roxas and warning to Riku to be nice, Sora slipped out of the car and watched it drive out of sight before turning towards the academy. Sighing, he pulled his phone out of his back pocket. No messages. Nothing to distract him from the task at hand. With five minutes left before his luncheon, he headed towards the classrooms opposite of the private meeting rooms. Strolling along the hallways, looking in on the rising students, Sora couldn't help but feel nostalgic. It was only a few years ago that he was behind one of those desks, an eager student hoping he would be able to change the world.

The idea that one person's efforts could be a real force of good wasn't so hard to believe back then. Now, a few years into the business, Sora didn't know if what he did really made any dent in the criminal activity. No matter how many finger prints he lifted or DNA samples he matched or shrapnel he put back together, there was always another case waiting. It was a vicious cycle where the euphoric feeling of solving one case was crushed by another violent act that drove him to get justice for that victim which produced the euphoria again. How does one explain such a masochistic profession to college students?

He didn't have any more time to ponder the task at hand as the doors of the classrooms flew open and students filed out for their lunch break. He slipped through the crowed hallways easily, putting his height and slight build to their only advantages. A taller person might have been able to muscle their way through the students but it seemed so much easier to be able to flit in and out of the small gaps between people.

Using his patented "Sora skirt", he made his way back along the hallway to the employee break room where his tutees would be waiting. The break room had various private meeting areas where the luncheons took place. All but one of the private rooms were already occupied which made finding his fairly simple. There was no one in the room when he came in but a small fold-up table that had been erected along one wall held a platter of store-bought cold subs. Good to know the academy valued his time so much as to serve him with gourmet food. The sad fact was that the subs were gourmet compared to his usual diet of instant meals and iced coffee.

The first student entered as he poked around the sub platter. She was a nervous sort of girl, giving Sora a shy greeting before selecting a chair on the opposite side of the room from where he was standing. Sora smiled back but didn't say anything. If she was afraid to talk to him, there was no way she was going to go before a grand jury. He doubted she would continue with the program, no matter what he said.

Within a few minutes the second undergraduate entered, another girl with blond hair and big blue eyes to match. Apparently Sora's hopes for attracting more males into their science programs wasn't going to be realized today. Despite the academy's constant push for more female detectives, his forensic unit was already filled with females. He sighed to himself and turned to address the two girls.

"Hey guys. Welcome to "forensic technicians are fantastic" with Sora Tobu. I'm Sora, as you may have guessed, and I'm here to talk to you about being a techie with the great city of Hollow Bastion means and perhaps answer some questions. Remember, there are no stupid questions, so if you're ever feeling particularly dumb just ask a question and you'll be cured!"

He got a slight smile out of the first and a blank look from the second. Both obviously needed more prodding to speak. "So, you want to tell me who I'm advertising to?"

They both glanced at each other, hoping they wouldn't have to go first. The blond took one look at her quivering brunette partner and must have felt some pang of sympathy. "I'm Alice. Alice Liddell." Her declaration seemed to encourage the other girl, who added quietly, "And I'm Shelinda Sodashi, sir."

Oh, he loved it when they called him sir. Such a feeling of power and respect. If only Shelinda wouldn't cower when she said it. He wasn't Leon.

Sora sat down across from Alice and Shelinda, the former having found an interest in the bricks of the walls and the latter looking down at her hands folded in her lap.

This was going to be a long lunch.

* * *

To his surprise, Shelinda proved knowledgeable about forensics and actually interested in Sora's work. Alice mostly ignored the conversation, only interrupting with random facts and irrelevant information that Sora might have been interested in if he hadn't been using up his lunch time to come talk to the girls. Discussing obscure things was something to do in one's free time, not waste someone else's lunch.

After the luncheon, he'd given his contact information to Shelinda in case she had any more questions or whatever she needed to further her career. Alice didn't ask for anything and Sora was happy to withhold it. There were quite enough weird people in the industry already, himself included.

Using his hand to block the sun from his eyes, Sora eagerly watched the road coming into the academy for any signs of Roxas and Riku. He wanted to hear how their lunch bonding had went, having high hopes from their almost civilized compromise earlier.

When his arm started to ache, he abandoned his watch and turned away from the sun just in time to see a slight figure dash between the parked cars in the academy lot. Knowing that no students were allowed to wander the lot, he trotted closer to get a better view of the intruder. He knew from experience that the lot was a dangerous place, with squad cars and their stressed drivers speeding in and out. Going to get a staff member would take too much time and Riku would be pulling in soon enough anyway, so he decided to pursue the retreating figure. Even if it was just a lost first-year, he could use the distraction.

The thrill of the chase was something even the techies could admire and although Sora didn't have the muscle memory of it like the other detectives, he easily cleared the chain-link fence surrounding the lot. Petit builds win again!

Further evidence of Riku's training came through as he darted around the cars, subconsciously naming the make and model as he went along. As if Sora really needed more useless knowledge to distract him. He was slowly catching up to the figure, which he now saw was not a uniformed student but a rather thin person in a dark sweatshirt and hat. Classic bad guy. Sweatshirts were never good signs for pursuers though, the loose material making it easy to conceal weapons, but when the figure made a wrong move in the chase Sora seized the opportunity and took him down. Knock them off their feet, onto the ground, pinned down, hands retrained, just like Riku had taught him. It worked perfectly. Of course, now that he had the figure pinned they were both stuck like that; Sora couldn't move without releasing him and the man couldn't move at all unless Sora moved first. Thankfully, their impasse lasted only a few seconds as Riku and a confused looking Roxas came out from the sea of cars to his rescue.

"Aspiring to be in lot security now, Sora? I thought you were here to encourage students to become scientists, not let them encourage you to find another job."

Sora only vaguely heard Riku. He was more focused on the intricate tattoo that ran the length of the man's arm which had become visible during the struggle. It was a black raven done in a tribal style. The marking of a Hun member.

Without waiting for Riku's help, Sora flipped the man over to face him, still managing to keep his arms and legs restrained. "What are you doing trespassing on a government facility?"

The hood fell away from his face, revealing a young man with a cocky look on his face. Hard to pull that when you're pinned beneath a lab geek. He didn't know that of course, but…

The man didn't provide any answer, so Riku leaned in to help Sora slip cuffs on him. "Nice work, techie," Riku said admiringly, tousling Sora's hair. Sora would have beamed at him if Roxas hadn't chosen that moment to roughly shove his way in between them and lead the man to Riku's car.

Guess that lunch time bonding hadn't gone as well as he had hoped.

* * *

_Ugh, planning weddings is not fun. Someday I'd love to be a guest and not part of the set-up team. My advice for this chapter? Elope._

_So yeah. Another one down. And yes, PoV will switch around, partially because I get bored writing as one character, mostly because I love Sora and Riku more than Roxas. C:_

_Reviews are good. I never understood just how much they mean to authors before I started writing myself. They're like drugs! Or children, if you're a Torchwood fan and get what I'm talking about. So review and make me a happy person. Loved it? Hate it? Think I should spend more time speaking English with my family than French? Let it all out but stick around until the next chapter!_


	3. You Can’t Spell Scrabble With 7 Letters

**Chapter 3: You Can't Spell 'Scrabble' With Only Seven Letters**

With the internet as expansive as it is, there are a variety of videos online that show the consequences of underestimating old ladies. Bricks in their purse, mace in their pocket and the ability to run over 20 miles per hour despite having a cane/walker are just a few of the covert tricks grannies always seem to be capable of when threatened.

What the internet fails to tell people is that frail old _men_ are equally as dangerous, maybe even more so, especially those that have served time for gang related activities.

"Geez Demyx, hold onto to him would you! His legs are flailing around and I may want to have children some day."

Demyx sighed, then shifted him and the small dog he held in his arms around so that they were no longer facing Axel. For such a little thing, the dog was admirably persistent about getting free. Any time Demyx tried to offer help to Axel, who was in the process of cuffing Zhou after a short but treacherous chase through the house, the dog decided to act up, kicking out with all four appendages. He wasn't so concerned about his future family plans like Axel was, but with the ridicule he was going to get from the other detectives if he came back with a black eye from a Shih Tzu.

Thankfully, the chase had given them the cause needed to take Zhou back to the station. The man had thrown small potted plant at Axel after they had identified themselves and assaulting a police officer was more than enough to have him booked.

After a few tense minutes, he heard Axel sigh with relief. "Cuffs are on Dem, you can get up."

Easier said than done. The dog had become even more frenzied after its master had stopped struggling. Obviously realizing that he had no further way of escape, their captive said a few quick words in a language Demyx didn't recognize and the dog unhappily quieted down.

"Err, thanks." He walked over to a crate in the corner of the living room and locked the dog inside. As soon as the door was latched, it resumed its incessant barking.

Axel was surveying the room from a spot near the front door. "I think we should take him back," gesturing to Zhou, "before we try to get involved with searching this place. We could definitely argue probable cause for a search now but it would sure be nice to know what we're looking for first."

Demyx nodded, although the procrastination of the search was more appealing to him than the information the interrogation might offer. Street work was his least favorite part of the job. He was possibly the only detective who preferred talking to witnesses over beating up bad guys.

Zhou calmly stood and got into the squad car when they asked him to, the picture of perfection for suspects. With such a demeanor, he was going to be a tough egg to crack. Demyx could only hope he wouldn't be the one who would have to try.

* * *

The major case break room was more like a second home for its users than a place for a quick rest. It was not unusual to find a detective sleeping on one of the couches or a lab technician shaving over the sink in the early hours before work. During the many intense cases the squad was chosen to investigate, finding time to go home and sleep or even eat was a rare occasion. As the squad's capabilities became obvious and their case load increased, the unused white room with the worn kitchenette was transformed into the highest traffic area in the building.

When the detectives moved in, so did the electronics. The first was a large flat screen TV complete with a whole array of satellite broadcasted channels and a DVD player. A few years later, a gaming system of added and since then the room had been updated regularly with the newest systems, sound technology and music players. The major items were all purchased with corporate money, most often to fill out a yearly budget that had fallen short of its predicted amount. Personal items such as games and DVDs were donated or shared between users of the room.

If one were to enter the Major Case break room today, the first thing one might notice aside from the overwhelming amount of technology would be the oversized Scrabble board located in one corner of the room. It had been specially made for the detectives after they helped a local pawn shop recover over five thousand dollars worth of items that had been stolen. The larger board came with more letters and more spaces on the board in which to form words, allowing for up to ten people to play easily in one game. And although there were more than ten people who frequented the room, partners and friends who had common break hours often formed teams to create an almost squad-wide Scrabble game.

Demyx was not a very good Scrabble player. He had a respectably large vocabulary but it mostly contained long archaic words that would have been banned by the official Scrabble rules had they even been creatable with the seven letters each team had to work with. So every time a game of Scrabble was started, Demyx forsook the even less literate Axel and teamed up with their Assistant Coroner, the "Master of the Obscure Words" as Demyx so dubbed him, Zexion Ienzo.

Despite the morgue's move into the newest addition to the headquarters, Zexion and his erratic boss Xigbar continued to be patrons of the break room; what had once been a short elevator trip had become more of a pilgrimage across the building but the two seemed perfectly happy to make the journey as long as the others left a bit of coffee in the pot for them.

The first time Demyx had met Zexion had been during a "meet and greet" done by the academy to introduce senior students to the people they might be working with after graduation. Demyx met Zexion while standing in the autopsy room with a bear-mauled man lying on the metal table between them. And Zexion had scared the shit out of him.

Over the next few years, the fear had been replaced by interest in the consistently antisocial coroner and then by a tentative friendship formed over a particularly gruesome cannibal case. And now, with the first pick of the morning doughnuts riding on the outcome of the Scrabble game, Demyx had never been more thankful for the quiet man's friendship.

He sipped his cold cup of coffee, surveying the current game board. They were in the lead but Riku and Axel were close behind and it was their turn. Or, wait, no… Axel's name had been scratched out from underneath Riku's and Sora's name had been scribbled in. Demyx scanned the other groups and found Axel added to the new group which had formerly consisted of the newbie, Roxas, and Sora. Riku's idea, most likely. Their senior detective took any opportunity to put himself and the Head of Forensics together. Demyx could only hope it paid off; Sora had thus far been entirely oblivious to Riku's advances.

The new team had already played their first word and Demyx wondered if it had been before or after the switch. He didn't want to be around when Roxas noticed his adversary's cheap move.

"I heard we have a new detective. Is he going to give us any competition?" Demyx wasn't surprised that he didn't hear Zexion come in. Even Leon had given up on keeping track of the stealthy coroner.

"Maybe. Sora described him as the studious type. But he's paired with Axel, thanks to Riku, so I'm not expecting much."

Zexion made a noise of understanding and walked over to pour himself a cup of coffee. They were silent for a minute. "Any new leads on your case?" Zexion finally asked, not bothering to turn around to see if Demyx was listening. Which he was, of course, but he appreciated the display of trust.

"Axel and I brought in a suspect but I don't think we'll have much luck. He's in holding right now, 'softening up' or something. Axel is going to go after him when he gets back from the lab."

Zexion smiled slightly and motioned to the Scrabble board. "Do you have time to work out a few possible moves?" Demyx had to keep himself from shivering. Zexion could make anything sound diabolic. Diabolical was always more fun.

"Of course."

* * *

"You touch Hugh's eyes one more time and I'm going to tell him to e-mail your home address to every lonely, obsessive girl in the building."

Axel doubted that Sora knew of any lonely girls in the building but prior experience had taught him to never tempt the boy. The lab techs were like a close knit family and Axel feared what a computer wiz like Cid or Yuffie would do if they found him annoying their beloved boss. He took his hand off of "Hugh", one of Sora's many computers and went back to playing with a pen on the counter next to him.

"Well, how long does it take to run a background on our guy? If Leon had been the one asking for it, I bet you would have had it ready before he even walked down here."

Sora shot him an exasperated look. "Well, you said get his entire background. I'm getting his _entire_ background, including eight aliases and various restricted files from other divisions. The Red Army seems to have had a hand in everything when it was operational."

Axel moved around the desks to join Sora at one of the computers. "That's surprising, considering they were such a new gang. Most stick with one type of activity when they're trying to rise to power."

Sora quickly opened various files and then deftly rolled himself over to a larger monitor. Good to see the lab's yearly budget being put to useful things, like rolling chairs. "Their major focus seems to have been smuggling weapons", he said, pointing to a shipping record on the screen. "What's weird is that I think they were focusing on getting them out of the city, not into it like most other gangs. I've got a few records of purchases that were eventually used for crime back in the Land of the Dragons but I don't think there is a link between those crimes and the gang. Their transactions seem to be perfectly legal, which is why I'm still digging. I haven't found anything incriminating yet, no reason for the breakup, no reason for this kind of backlash against a dissolved gang. No reason to have a gang at all, actually." He waved his arms in frustration. "These guys are more like a legitimate business then a gang. Anyway, some previous members of the Red Army seem to have joined other gangs, including the Huns, so I'm focusing on that but there's a lot of names to shift through." He got quiet, suddenly becoming very interested in something on the screen.

"And?..."

Sora looked back at him, brooding. "And the lackeys are all out in court this morning."

Axel laughed. "Finally, we get to the real reason behind the delay! The big boss has to do all the grunt work himself." Dodging Sora's punch, he started for the door. "So what do you recommend I ask our dear Zhou in interrogation, considering how little you've been able to provide me with?"

The question was unnecessary, since he already knew what angle he was going to go after, but it was worth hearing the creative curses Sora shouted at his retreating form.

Time to go track down his partner.

* * *

After passing Zexion in the hallway outside the Major Case room, Axel knew to look for Demyx in the break room. His partner was hunched over the Scrabble board, most likely contemplating the other teams' next moves and his chances of staying in first position. Axel hadn't really bothered with the game since Demyx had abandoned him. He was the only one in the squad who ate the cinnamon doughnuts anyway, so there was no reason for him to have first dibs.

Demyx looked up as he approached. "Did you get what you need from Sora?"

He grimaced. All joking aside, Axel had been relying on Sora to work his magic and find something to use against Zhou. "Not exactly, but Leon is going to be back in a couple of hours and we need to have something for him. Zhou's had enough time in holding and I think I have enough to at least get started."

"Which means you're going to be making it up as you go along. Fantastic." Demyx sighed, straightening up before going over to toss his cup in the trash. "Let's get it over with."

* * *

As it turned out, leaving Zhou in holding had not been the best strategy. The man had apparently asked for a lawyer during his stay and he arrived right as Axel was about to begin the interrogation.

Seymour Gourdo was a well known defense attorney, infamous (in the eyes of police) for having connections to gang activity, although no one had been able to provide solid evidence on it. Witnesses against Seymour's clients just had a mysterious habit of disappearing and his clients often managed to receive the least harsh sentencing, no matter how terrible their crime. His presence did not bode well for Axel's interrogation but it did present them with another possible lead. An ex-gang member living paycheck to paycheck should not have been able to afford Seymour's services. Not when Seymour could have been working for his usual clientele, which included Hun leaders.

Still, Axel insisted on at least trying to get more information from the guy so he led Zhou and Seymour into an interrogation room while Demyx went into the observation room. He pulled a chair over to the one-way mirror and flicked on the sound box.

"-sit on that side Mr. Fa, thank you."

After they were all situated, Seymour leaned forward towards Axel. "Now, what could we possibly have to discuss about a little assault, detective? Because surely this is a legitimate interrogation and we will be sticking to the facts about our case."

Axel seemed unfazed by Seymour calling him out. "Legitimate, of course," he replied, countering with a cocky grin of his own. "Just need to clear up a few things, such as why your client felt inclined to throw a pot at two nonaggressive officers."

He was looking at Zhou but it was Seymour who answered again. "The 'whys' are obvious. Your sister unit has been cracking down on old gang related cases using the new technology. My client was merely worried you might have come to force him back into a world he has escaped from. Being a witness against a fellow gang member is quite dangerous."

'Only if you're the one representing the gang member', Demyx thought, annoyed by Seymour's attempt to be the good guy. Axel wasn't buying it either. Once again, he tried to direct his questions at Zhou but Seymour had an answer ready for everything, keeping the conversation strictly to the assault. Zhou looked increasingly troubled as the interrogation continued but didn't try to answer. Demyx could feel his partner's increasing frustration, despite the collected face he displayed for Seymour.

Axel ended the interrogation early, seeing that he was going to get no response from Zhou and nothing useful from Seymour. A guard escorted the two back to holding while Axel met up with Demyx in observation.

"So, what are we going to tell Leon?"

"Sora has something that he needs to talk to him about, immediately. Then we run."

* * *

_It has always bothered me that you can't spell the word 'Scrabble' with the seven letters you are given to play with. I always thought spelling the name of game should be some huge point word.  
_

_The next chapter should be out faster than the last, now that exams are done and I have a better idea of where this case is going. Although I did just get 358/2 Day, so who knows. And we'll get a little more Riku/Sora in the next chapter. :D  
_

_All hits and no reviews makes Lyf a dull girl.  
__All hits and no reviews makes Lyf a dull girl.  
__All hits and no reviews makes Lyf a dull girl.  
__All hits and no reviews makes Lyf a dull girl._

_Review or I'll go all 'Shining' on your ass!_


	4. Gravity Cannot Be Blamed for Love

**Chapter 4: You Can't Blame Gravity for Who You Fall In Love With**

Riku woke to a large crash. Briefly, he wondered if he had ever made it back from the bar Axel had taken him to last night, but the feint light of an alarm clock told him he was in his apartment. Instinctively grabbing his gun from under the bed, he strained to hear the sounds coming from another room. He lived alone and didn't have much contact with his neighbors. There was no reason for anyone to be in or outside his residence at three in the morning.

He began to inch his way out of the bedroom, checking each doorway he passed for intruders. Bathroom, clear. Guest room, clear. Closet, clear. Only the kitchen and the living room remained. He was debating how to sneak into the more open rooms when a loud string of curses came from the kitchen, followed by a crash. Throwing caution to the wind, Riku swarmed in through the first doorway. As if he was going to let some burglar screw with _his_ possessions without a fight.

It didn't end up being much of a fight. Within a few seconds he had his gun pressed against the back of the intruder's head. And although he realized it was entirely unnecessary, he was too shocked to remove it. Both he and the intruder stayed frozen until…

"Sora, what the hell are you doing in my apartment at three in the morning?"

The brunet slowly turned his head until blue eyes met with cyan. "Raiding your refrigerator?" Sora replied weakly, very aware of the gun still pointed at his head.

Riku sighed and took a step back. Without waiting for any more of an explanation, he left the room and went back to bed. No need to waste his last few hours of sleep.

The second time he actually woke up to his alarm clock, reminding him that he had twenty minutes to get ready if he wanted to be at work on time. He wasn't sure if he did want to be there but as he lay in bed he remembered his early morning house guest. No noise was audible now. Eventually curiosity won out over laziness and he finally got up.

He snagged a clean shirt out of the closet, not trusting his morning libido to behave around Sora when he was less than fully dressed.

The smell of pancakes and syrup wafted through his hallways and Riku vaguely wondered if the smell had been there earlier. For the second time that day, he hesitantly went through the kitchen doorway.

No Sora; Just a large stack of pancakes on the counter. Closer inspection revealed that "Riku" had been written on them in syrup. He smiled. Sora had insisted on putting names on all his food after Axel had eaten his cupcake because it "didn't have his name on it". Holding the plate with one hand, he snatched a possibly clean fork from the dishwasher and headed into the living room.

Sora looked up from his spot on the couch as Riku entered, with what Riku assumed to be the day's newspaper scattered around him. His friend smiled at first, then looked suspiciously at Riku's holster. "You're not going to shoot me, are you?"

Riku shook his head as he slid onto the other couch, carefully balancing the plate of pancakes. "No, your offering has appeased me… for now." Sora stuck his tongue out at him, but Riku was too busy eating to form an appropriate response. After satisfying his hunger, Riku turned to Sora. "So," he began, waiting for the other to look up from the newspaper, "You never answered my question. Why were you here so early?"

Sora gave him his best innocent look. "What, I can't make my friend breakfast every once in awhile?"

It was hard to remain serious when Sora gave him that look. Rogue thoughts of how he could wipe the expression off the other's face flitted through Riku's mind, but he pushed them back. Not now, it was too soon, Sora didn't even have a clue. Stay cool, calm, objective.

Yeah, right. Let's just focus on the pancakes, shall we Riku? He stuffed another few forkfuls in before speaking.

"Sora, when I gave you a key to my apartment, it wasn't so you could waltz in at any hour of the day without informing me and manhandle my appliances." _You can come in at any time and manhandle me though..._

He glanced back up at Sora and instantly regretted it. Damn. The only thing worse than his innocent look was the pout. Sora's pout put the pouts of even the most spoiled little girls to shame. He was forced to start backtracking. "No, I mean, you're welcome any time, just try to give me some sort of heads up? So I don't shoot you before an acceptable offering can be put together."

The pout dissolved into a slight smile. "Yeah, sorry Riku. It's just, Leon had me up all night trying to get something on Seymour and Zhou and now my stove isn't working and it'll be a few days before I get another and I was craving pancakes and I have haven't cooked for you in awhile and I know teaching Roxas is making you stressed so..."

Sora rambled on as Riku groaned. Just the mention of his partner's name was enough to make annoyed. The newbie was pretty good as far as general police work went; he was a decent shot and already had experience with writing reports. But the detective techniques of small towns were nothing like those of cities. Riku was forced to teach Roxas about investigating crowded areas, dealing with the public, chasing cars down narrow city streets and various other abilities that any academy student would have known simply from growing up in Hollow Bastion. Roxas proved to be a quick learner, but not quick enough as Riku became increasingly bored with their mundane training assignments. He didn't think senior agents should have to be dragged down by newbies but Leon either disagreed or just didn't care. Having worked with the stoic captain for almost seven years, Riku was inclined to think it was the latter.

He must have been brooding a bit too long because Sora, with a look of concern, had gotten up to come sit by him. "I really want to thank you for helping Roxas out," he said, leaning in across the gap between them, "this job means everything to him, and although he'll never say it, I'm sure he's appreciative. As am I." Sora was too sincere, too adorable for Riku to offer any more complaints against the blond. Or take advantage of their close proximity.

"So, what caused Roxas to come out here anyway?" He had meant the question only as a way to get off the topic of training but Sora's reserved look meant there was interesting gossip to be heard. Sora rarely kept things from him, especially if he asked for them directly. "What? Don't tell me he was sleeping with the boss' wife."

Sora shifted on the couch but gave no response.

"Husband? Daughter? Son? Dog? Please, tell me it wasn't the dog."

Nothing. Just as Riku was starting to get frustrated, Sora spoke up. "Well, it's not really my story to tell-"

He must have caught Riku's annoyed glance because he went on anyway. "-but basically he and another detective, who was on loan from the Destiny Islands, were assigned to a murder case. There had been a death in the department and many of the detectives were off on leave, recovering, so Twilight Town had called in for help from other precincts. At first, Roxas didn't realize his partner knew the suspect and by the time he figured it out he was already involved in their little plot. Roxas unknowingly helped the suspect escape and while the case never became one of those big media frenzies or anything, the other detectives grouped him in with his partner as a traitor. The higher-ups were aware that it was their fault for not screening the loaned detectives but they let the blame fall on Roxas." Sora had become increasingly agitated as he told the story. His prior hesitations about sharing the information seemed to have been replaced by indignation for his friend.

"Huh." Riku felt a bit of sympathy warming up for his least favorite coworker. "Doesn't sound like the kind of people I want in control of my assignments."

Sora made a small noise of agreement, viciously picking at the remains of his pancake platter. Riku gave him a few minutes to cool down before offering him a ride into work, which was gleefully accepted. They were running an hour late already, which was still two hours early for Riku. Roxas should be thanking Sora, because the brunet was the only reason Riku saw for going to work today.

* * *

Riku's budding sympathy for his partner dissolved immediately upon their arrival at headquarters. He bristled at Roxas' protective look and a fight might have broken out when the blond tried to pull Sora away from him if Leon hadn't chosen that moment to ask for a private meeting. With a promise from Sora to meet up for lunch, Riku reluctantly followed the captain to his office.

He was surprised to see Cloud Strife, one of their prosecution attorneys, waiting impatiently for them. Riku could respect the man that helped them win a high percentage of their court cases but that didn't mean he had to like him. Having a lawyer around meant that detectives had to be on their best behavior, abiding by all police procedure. Playing fair wasn't Riku's style and while it had gotten him in trouble quite a few times already, he couldn't remember doing anything recently that would have warranted a visit from Cloud.

"Mr. Jenova, still taking your own sweet time getting to work I see."

"Mm, I had a late night guest over that I had to take care of first, if you know what I mean." He couldn't help but smirk as the lawyer wrinkled his nose in disgust. Solidifying Cloud's assumptions about him was too good to pass up. He resolved to discreetly apologize to Sora later.

"Whatever activities you choose to pursue in your spare time is up to you, but get your ass in to work on time."

It took Riku a second to response to the normally collected man's exasperated demand. Recovering, he shrugged, leaning back the wall. "I'm here now, alright? What's up?"

"Seymour." Leon finally came into the conversation, having previously been observing from the sideline. Experience with both Riku and Cloud had taught him to let them size each other up before attempting to get to the real reason for the meeting. "Axel's right to think that Zhou isn't the kind of guy who would seek or be able to afford a lawyer like Seymour. He looks like he wants to talk but Seymour always beats him to it. Makes me wonder what our dear defense attorney wants with Zhou. Or what his real clients want with Zhou, I should say."

"Either way," Cloud butted in, desperate to keep the talk from slipping onto cop related subjects, "we don't have enough evidence to hold him any longer. The assault charge would be one man's word over another, certainly not enough to go to court with and you have nothing linking him to the gang murders."

Riku bristled at the slight jab to their police work. "If by nothing you mean that we've got DNA confirmation that both vics and Zhou were part of the Red Dragons. There's your goddamn link."

The reserved Cloud seemed to have returned, as he only narrowed his eyes at Riku's antagonistic response. "Yes, we can say that they were all part of the gang, which is one hell of a coincidence. But it could just be that, a coincidence, and until you get me evidence of a motive or, hell, even a suspect or two; we don't have anything. Zhou wasn't even your suspect in the first place, right?"

Riku and Leon traded looks. "No, just someone we hoped could shed some light on the relationship between the Huns and Red Dragons," Leon replied, shaking his head. Riku could feel the case slipping between his fingers.

"We find Seymour's connection in all this, we find the people behind the hits. You can't expect us to give up our prime witness to a dirty lawyer-"

All three men turned to stare as the door to the office was opened. Roxas stuck his head in the gap, displaying no fear of angering his captain by barging in on the meeting. Leon didn't let a challenge to his authority go unchecked and Roxas realized his transgression only as the captain padded angrily over to meet him.

Riku followed a short distance behind, hoping to catch some of the reprimanding. The glee was short lived, as all he heard was "-found a third body."

* * *

Cloud departed shortly after, promising to hold Zhou as long as he could but their prospects were bleak. The attorney was right, with no evidence and no real criminal charges they wouldn't be able to keep Zhou much longer. The third body would either be a big break for the case or the piece of evidence that would destroy everything they'd built up so far. Tensions were running high for both Leon and himself, not helped by Roxas' constant stream of questions and complaints as they drove out to the most recent crime scene.

"How am I supposed to be learning the layout of the city if you never let me drive? Or tell me where we're going? Where the hell _are_ we going anyways?"

The new body meant that his lunch date with Sora would have to be canceled, effectively destroying his one reason for being at work. Coming up on the crime scene, he stopped to a squealing halt and slipped out the door smoothly. He quickly fetched the crime scene investigating equipment from the trunk while Roxas got out and observed their surroundings, then met his partner around the car with an armful of supplies. "Alright newbie, you're so eager to learn where you are, you can do a perimeter sweep of the crime scene." He thrust a camera and a handful of evidence markers into Roxas' hands. "Pictures first, three shots of all potential evidence: long range, midrange and short range. Start from the outside and spiral in and _don't_ miss anything. I'm not going to come clean up your mistakes this time."

Without giving the blond any time to respond with an argumentative remark, Riku turned on his heels and made his way towards Axel and the crowd that had gathered behind the yellow tape. He slowed down after distancing himself from the car and Roxas, taking his phone out to fire off a text to Sora. Their Head of Forensics had undoubtedly heard about the third body and was most likely already in the lab preparing for the influx of new evidence but Riku took the opportunity to give him a more personal briefing. Really, the lunch cancelation may have been for the better as it gave Riku an excuse to ask Sora to dinner instead. He finished just as he came up to Axel, slipping the phone back into his pocket before joining the other detective.

"Damn! You'd think these people would be used to seeing dead bodies, living in gang territory and all." Axel was frowning at the group of spectators but didn't seem to have any intention on going out and helping his partner collect statements. Talking to witnesses was really more Demyx's strength anyway, but in gang territory like this, having two people out there was for safety more than efficiency.

Speaking of partners, Riku turned and scanned the scene for his own, finally finding the blond hunched over by a store window. Several other police officers stood near that area and Riku felt comfortable leaving Roxas alone for now.

The body was laying in a storm drain in front of a small grocery in the northern part of Hun territory. Leon was interviewing the store owners and what looked to be the first officer on the scene. The medical examiner van was just pulling in through the police security. Riku grabbed Axel and went to the body to wait for Xigbar and Zexion.

The victim was an older man, thin but with the lean look of a fighter. Squatting down on the sidewalk, Riku could see that the man's pockets had been turned out; he suspected that, like the other two victims, they would have to rely on DNA to identify the man. But the most important identifying mark on the body was visible through the ripped shirt: an ancient sword tattooed across the chest. Another dead member of the Red Army.

"Looks like Dem will be paying up. He put money on Zhou being the next vic." Riku jumped, having momentarily forgotten the other detective. They stood over the body for a moment before someone on the edge of the scene called for Axel, leaving Riku alone to wait for Xigbar. Zexion had just finished snapping photos of the body and returned to the van for more supplies.

"Well, children," Xigbar said as he walked over to the body, latex gloves already pulled over his hands, "are we ready to learn the time of death?" Without waiting for an answer, he touched the victim's arm. "Rigor mortis has already set in. Skin is cool to the touch. Not a recent kill by any means." He checked over the man's clothing and pockets. Like Riku predicted, there was no wallet or source of identification. Next, he drew out a liver probe from the bag beside him and inserted it into the victim's side. While the probe read the temperature, he looked over the body again, this time for the possible cause of death. "No outward signs of a struggle, no defensive wounds…" He turned back to check the liver temperature. "From our probe and the condition of the body, I'd say he's been dead about six to eight hours."

That put time of death at about two in the morning. Right as Sora would have been making his way to Riku's apartment. He would have to have a chat with the brunet about his late night excursions.

Removing the probe, Xigbar started searching down the chest. The previous two victims had been shot in the chest and this one proved no exception to the developing pattern. There was a small bullet hole in the left shoulder and another directly over the heart. The kill shot. Xigbar flipped the body over carefully, showing the two exit wounds through the back. "There's no blood around the wound or on the clothing, so I'm going to have to say that he wasn't killed here. Someone cleaned him up all nice and good before dumping him." Xigbar stood to meet Zexion. "Alright Kiddo, let's get this guy zipped up and back to the morgue for autopsy."

Zexion didn't answer, but shooed Riku away as he and Xigbar brought out the body bag. Riku could only hope that the killer had made some mistake. Sora could work all his forensic magic but it didn't mean anything without a suspect to compare it to. Most Hun members were already in the system for some sort of crime, which left them with three options: the killer was a new member without a criminal history, the gang had hired outside help or physical evidence had been planted. Riku was skeptical about the last scenario, as gangs weren't known for going out of their way to incriminate their enemies when gun fire took care of problem without involving law enforcement. But with the growing amount of physical evidence and the continuing lack of suspects, it was an option they would have to consider.

Finding members of the Red Army was proving even harder than find a suspect. The prominent members were all deceased, with the exception of Zhou who was equally useless to them. During its brief run, the gang had managed to stay out of the courts, leaving behind to none of the usual criminal record, parole officers and family connections that usually helped them track down gang members.

Looking at the big picture wasn't getting him anywhere, so he focused again on the new crime scene. Roxas hadn't moved much farther from where he was the last time Riku checked and without some _encouragement_ they would be out here all day.

"Find anything good, newbie?" He took great pleasure at seeing Roxas jump, since the blond hadn't seen him approach. "You'd better tell me that something big went down in this spot because you've been here for an hour."

No such luck. Riku could see that only a few evidence markers had been placed and even those were most likely city trash that held little possibility for being connected to the murder.

Roxas stood, stretching as he eyed his partner distastefully. "You said not to miss anything. Anything could be evidence, so therefore I have to look at everything."

"I said I wasn't going to clean up your mess and you are going to be a mess if you keep me out here all day. C'mon, get back to work but this time watch me." He took off down the street, following the storm drain. "Vendors like to step up shop in front of groceries because of the high foot traffic. When they're ready to close up, most dump out the ice they were using to cool whatever food item they were selling. The melted ice from further up the street could have washed away some of the evidence from our body, so we'll need to follow this drain downhill until we get to the bottom where everything pools."

"Isn't the purpose of a storm drain to prevent water from pooling?" Roxas, who had been unusually quiet, raised his eye brow at the last point.

Riku just laughed. "You're in the city now. Nothing works the way it should." He didn't let Roxas ask any more questions, knowing that jumping right into it would be easier for them both. With two detectives searching, Riku occasionally making suggestions to Roxas, the work went much faster. Almost a block from the crime scene they found a standing pool of water leading back into an alley. The usual trash was scattered around from both the drain and the surrounding sidewalk, but after a minute of shifting Riku found was he was looking for.

"Camera, newbie," he called, holding out his hand to Roxas, who placed it in his hand as he moved to see what Riku had found. He snapped a few pictures of wet pile of leaves and the little bit of barrel evident from underneath them before clearing off the dirt to uncover the entire gun. Roxas made an impressed noise from beside him. "Looks like your drain idea worked."

"Of course it worked. It was my idea after all. But don't get your hopes up yet, guns turn up in this area all the time. We'll leave it to Sora to determine if this one has anything to do with our case." He stood up and mentioned for another police offer to come pick up the gun. Collecting the evidence was usually left for after all the pictures had been taken but just as guns had a habit of appearing in gang territory, they had a habit of disappearing too.

He caught Roxas looking wistfully at the gun. "Don't worry blondie," he said, smacking his partner on the back, "you'll get your chance to find us some evidence too. We've still got another block to cover and twenty witness statements to look over."

Seeing the misery on Roxas' face brought a smile to his own. It looked like there might be a way to make the remaining hours to dinner more fun than he'd expected.

* * *

_I was at a medical examiner conference held at my school this weekend, so I'm looking forward to writing a scientifically accurate autopsy next chapter. Let's just see how our favorite crime shows hold up, hmm?_

_Thanks for readings! Reviews are always loved, I love getting comments, criticism, anything really. It's the highlight of my day, however sad and pathetic that may be. :)_


	5. I Wad Dead at the Time

**Chapter 5: I Was Dead at the Time**

As the elevator doors slid open, Roxas was surprised to find a large whiteboard obstructing his path into the forensics lab. The board was wide enough to cover the entire hallway side to side and various chairs had been arranged around it. Leon, who had walked in around the same time as Roxas, didn't seem surprised by the setup. Riku was lounging in a chair near the right wall, leaving Roxas to wonder how he had gotten into the locked building so early. Roxas himself had only just caught Leon unlocking the door and Riku wasn't one for coming in early or even on time.

Leon had decided against a chair, leaning against the wall near Riku. Demyx was the next to arrive, yawning as he slid into a seat opposite the other two. Axel hadn't come in yet. Apparently the only one concerned with the early morning call-in, Roxas awkwardly took one of the reaming seats, the one farthest away from Riku.

When it became obvious that his colleagues weren't going to explain why they had all been summoned to the lab, Roxas checked out his surroundings for clues. There was no writing on the whiteboard and no other props lying around it. Five chairs were arranged around the board in a circle, probably for the five members of the major case homicide squad. Roxas was just about to break the silence when the board started to turn. Sora and a female lab technician stepped through between the turned board and its base. She wasn't one of the three techies Roxas had met on his first day; he would have definitely remembered this one, with her cropped black hair and odd survival looking gear that could be seen from under her lab coat.

"Welcome one and all!" Sora greeted them enthusiastically. "I bet you're wondering why I called this emergency 'circle time', right? Well, except for you Riku, so don't give any hints!"

Roxas glared at his smug looking partner. Bastard had probably been working overtime as an excuse to be near Sora. Creep.

Aside from Roxas' inner disgruntlements, no one said anything. No guesses. No complaints. Nothing.

Sora rolled his eyes at the female techie. "Good to see that everyone is awake and ready to solve some crime, eh Yuffie?"

"And here you thought we were the only ones putting in any effort," she joked back.

"Well, you haven't really told us what crime we're solving. And I doubt I'm going to be any more excited once you do, because there are only a small number of crimes I deem worth getting up early to solve." Axel had finally arrived, taking the last chair beside Roxas.

Sora turned his nose up at Axel, a dramatic and cliché feat only Sora could pull off. "Well, Mr.

'I-Only-Pursue-Justice-When-It's-Convenient', when you and Demyx went home last night after writing up your crime scene reports, Yuffie, Riku and I went over all the evidence and started piecing together some possible scenarios, since no one has been able to find a suspect yet and I think it's something we should really be pursuing, right Yuffie?"

"Right!"

Axel flipped them off.

"So," Sora continued, ignoring Axel's gesture, "I give you what we have so far." He turned the whiteboard the rest of the way around.

The other side was covered in crime scene photos, mug shots, marker arrows and scientific looking charts that Roxas was pretty sure he wouldn't understand. It was an impressive site, assuming Sora could explain it's chaotic setup.

"Let's start with what we already know," he said, pointing up to an autopsy photo in the upper left hand corner. Roxas recognized it as the first victim, killed a week before he had joined the squad. "A month ago, a man's body was found by a jogger in the early morning. The body had been shot once, through the chest, and apparently died from blood loss but with no blood at the crime scene we knew it had to be a body dump. There was no ID on the body, no DNA hits in the system, and no fingerprint matches; only a sword tattooed across the chest. A tattooed guy in a gang area usually points to gang wars, so street police kicked it up to us. Then the second body showed up."

He moved onto a second autopsy photo underneath the first. "Same sword tattoo, only this time we get a hit off the fingerprints. Xing Mou applied for a hunting license almost twenty years ago but hadn't had any run-ins with the law since. The tattoo still hinted to gangs but we couldn't find any mention of criminal active so…"

"Cid and I did some digging." The female techie, Yuffie as Sora had introduced her, took over. She must be one of the cybercrime specialists, although Roxas couldn't really see an athletic person like her staring at a computer screen all day. "We went through a bunch of old shipping records from the Land of the Dragons to Hollow Bastion and vice versa, looking for some hint of name or logo with the sword from the tattoos. A lot of gangs run legit businesses to cover for their illegal activities. We eventually narrowed down some interesting weapon shipments that weren't connected to any surviving gangs and found a familiar sword logo. All three men belonged to the Red Army. Riku did some more investigating into the weapons shipment and found-"

"Drugs." This time it was Riku who interrupted. He stood to collect a file that had been taped to the board. There were copies of shipping receipts inside, which he passed out. "As it turns out, the fishy weapons shipments were entirely legal but since I had the local PD check them out anyway we found pills hidden in the hollowed out bullets in the gun magazines. And not the usually gang-banger narcotics but low-dose pain killers and cold medicine which, while still able to give a nice trip, are not the sort of things one would need to smuggle. Unless, of course, you were a small gang trying to get past the larger, ruling gang."

Riku gestured to the largest picture on the board, a group of dangerous looking men patrolling a slum. 'The Huns' was written beneath the photo. "The Huns deal in all the nasty sort of drugs you'd expect gangs to smuggle and they didn't like that the Red Army was providing people in the Land of Dragons with a safe alternative to their addictive drugs. But instead of starting some war, the Red Army just scaled back their operations and stayed under the radar."

The three paused, simultaneously turning to stare at their audience with expectant looks. Roxas let the others theorize, not wanting to make an incorrect assumption in front of his superior officer… and Riku.

"So, you're saying the Red Army never really disbanded?" Demyx said after a few seconds.

"Not only that, but they're still in the drug running business. And I'd say that The Huns just found out their old rivals are still around." Leon stroked his chin thoughtfully.

"Yup, and we've got records to prove it," Sora said, smiling triumphantly. "Quite enough for a search warrant of the main Hun hangout. Cloud is getting the warrant as we speak."

"Y'know, because he was awake and happy to come talk to us in the morning." Yuffie gave the group another scolding look.

Sora laughed. "Well, if you want to thank me, I am running out of caffeine…"

"We'll pick you guys up some breakfast before Cloud gets here. Some _real_ breakfast," Leon amended, casting a disapproving look at the frozen drink in Sora's hand. "Axel, Demy, let's call in some extra help to hold the gang members while we're executing the search. We can't walk into this unprepared. Riku, Roxas, head down to autopsy and see what Xigbar thinks we should be looking for, murder weapon wise." Leon gave them all a nod of dismissal before heading out of the hallway himself.

Looks like it was time to get to work.

* * *

"Remind me again why we're going to look at dead bodies."

Riku glanced at Roxas with an annoyed look. Roxas glared back. He had no desire to go into the morgue, with its foul lingering smells and grotesque sights. Back in Twilight Town, detectives rarely went to observe autopsies. The report was good enough. He brought this up with Riku as they made their way into the newly finished building that housed Hollow Bastion's morgue.

"We're probably one of the only precincts that have detectives go to autopsies. It's been useful to us so far. It's always better to see things with your own eyes. If we had a murder weapon, we could get pictures of it and the injuries the victim sustained that would show an obvious match even to the most thick-headed juror," Riku explained, keeping his tone uncharacteristically light and conversational.

Roxas snorted and was about the retort when Riku spun around with a suddenly serious look. "Alright, I'm getting tired of this unwarranted animosity. Sure, I stole your fucking parking space. Three weeks ago. Get over it. And Sora? He's a grown boy, I think he's capable of handling himself. So what the hell is your problem?"

Roxas was taken aback by the attack. They stood, tensely facing each other, Riku obviously waiting for Roxas' explanation.

After a minute, Roxas sighed. "You act so much like him."

Riku frowned. "Like who?"

"Seifer. The bastard who destroyed my reputation back in Twilight Town." Roxas quickly continued walking before Riku had a chance to bring up any more painful memories. It didn't really matter why Roxas hated Riku; the feeling wasn't going to change just because they talked about it. Of course, he didn't know the man well enough to be sure he had the same character flaws that Seifer did but they were just too much alike to not wonder. Then there was the whole deal with Sora… Roxas would be damned before he let his friend get involved with someone like that.

Instead, he focused on settling his stomach before they reached the metal doors of the autopsy room. He was glad he hadn't had time to eat breakfast after Sora's meeting; Leon had kept them all busy setting up the search until Xigbar had come in. Even in the hallway outside, Roxas could smell whiffs of decomposing bodies and the smell was only going to get worse inside.

Riku had caught up with him and wordlessly led him into a small room located to the right of the main doors. Inside, they each took turns washing up and putting on the medical scrubs necessary to enter an active autopsy room. The hassle of changing clothes was another reason Twilight Town detectives had avoided going to autopsies.

Finally, they were ready to head in.

The morgue was a large open room, well lit from both the desk lamps located on each table and by the open skylights. The desks were located in the middle of room, all piled high with various stacks of papers while the actual autopsy tables were along the far wall. Medical personnel flittered back and forth from each table. The busy setting was a surprise to Roxas at first, but it made sense that a city as large as Hollow Bastion would have more mysterious deaths to investigate and would require a larger medical staff. He followed Riku over to an autopsy table on the end, where Xigbar and Zexion were setting up. The most recent victim was lying naked on the table, the physical evidence having already been collected. Sora was probably analyzing the physical evidence now.

"Ah, good, we're all here. Shall we begin?" Xigbar took a recorder and a case file from Zexion. "This is case number XX-XXXX, Chien Po," he said, speaking into the recorder as he read the information out of the case file. "The body is that of an approximately 60 year old Imperial man with black hair and brown eyes. The body is 172 centimeters long and weighs 77 kilograms."

The measurements must have been taken when the body was admitted into the morgue. Roxas had forgotten most of what he had learned about autopsies back in college. Not having gone to one since then probably hadn't helped.

Xigbar handed the file back to Zexion, who placed it on the counter. The medical examiner then moved beside the body, ready to begin the external observations. "Rigor mortis has already passed. The skin is of normal texture. There are no scars on the body. There is an 11 inch sword tattooed on the chest, running parallel to the cervix, beginning from just below the scapulas."

He motioned to Zexion, who brought him a plastic ruler, which Xigbar placed alongside the first gunshot wound. "There are two gunshot wounds, one on the right lateral anterior chest wall and the other on the proximal end of the left arm. They are both 1 cm in diameter. There are burn marks around the gunshot on the chest wall and gunshot residue was collected from around the gunshot to the left arm."

Xigbar paused before looking up to meet Roxas' eyes. "Are you sticking around for the internal examination?"

Riku answered for him, with a quick "Of course he is", giving Roxas no time to protest. Xigbar laughed. "Just as long as you're going to be the one to escort Master Kibun out when he becomes ill." He laughed again when Roxas paled at the thought.

Riku nudged his arm. "Just don't think about getting sick. Think about… the science. Getting the answers. Being objective." Roxas wasn't sure if Riku was giving him advice because he cared or because he didn't want to deal with a sick partner.

Xigbar selected a scalpel from the table and started making the incisions, Zexion hovering close with the recorder in hand.

"The body is opened by the usual "Y" incision extending across the chest and continuing ventrally…"

Most of the autopsy blurred together for Roxas, who concentrated on not throwing up. Every once in awhile, phrases would flitter through his focus, "…extensive damage to the heart…", "…laterally toward the right scapula…", "…main pulmonary artery…", but he didn't understand most of what he caught. The caliber of the gun had probably been mentioned sometime during the autopsy, but Roxas' hadn't heard it. A quick glance at Riku showed the other detective paying close attention, obviously having no trouble understanding the medical lingo. At least one of them would come out with something useful.

And really, the only part Roxas was interested in was the end. Not only did it mean he could leave but the end of the autopsy was when the medical examiner offered his opinion on the cause and manner of death.

Roxas listened most attentively for this part of examination, and after what seemed like hours he finally heard it.

"It is my opinion that Chien Po died as a result of gunshot wound to the chest. The bullet pierced the heart and death would have occurred instantaneously. The manner of death," Xigbar concluded, looking up to smile at Roxas, "was homicide."

Roxas didn't need anything more. With a short thanks, he quickly darted out of the room, ignoring the sounds of Riku and Xigbar's chuckles behind him.

* * *

The sun was finally up by the time Demyx and Axel pulled up in front of the Black Hawk, an old warehouse-turned-bar that also functioned as The Huns' main hang-out. A group of burly gang members were lined up against the outside wall, looking dangerously annoyed. Axel was at once glad that Leon had insisted on the extra police support; he didn't want to be the one stuck watching the members. Although, one would think they'd be use to the destructiveness of the searches by now. The front entrance of the Black Hawk had been knocked down during the initial charge. It was hard to tell where the battering ram had hit when the door had already been covered in bumps and scrapes from prior police visits. Axel took great joy at stamping in a couple of new dents onto fallen door on his way in.

Demyx was already inside, not having stopped to leave his mark on the gang property. His partner surveyed the room, occasionally glancing at the warrant papers in his hand. He turned as he heard Axel approach.

"Our warrant covers all of their guns as well as their business records. Riku just called and says were looking for a .357 magnum… but this place is full of guns. It's going to take forever!" Demyx sighed.

"Just be glad you're not out there with our lovely friends, explaining to them why we're taking so long," Axel said grinning at an unhappy police officer who had been listening in. "Anyway, the records are going to be even more of a problem than the guns. If I remember correctly from my last visit here, the juicy sales records are kept in Mr. Main Boss' office…"

The two partners paused to glance at each other. Wordlessly, they each held a fist up, an intense look having crept into their eyes. Out of the corner of his eye, Axel saw the eavesdropping officer from before coming in closer.

"Rock, paper, scissors, SHOOT!"

Both looked down hesitantly. Axel's paper against Demyx's scissors. _Damn._

Axel looked up to see Demyx already walking towards the nearest gun rack. "He-hey, wait, best two out of three!"

Demyx didn't turn around, but Axel could see him shaking his head. "You don't get "best two out of threes" in gunfights. Have fun with Shan Yu!"

_Damn. _Axel spun and marched back outside, giving the fallen door a second helping of angry stomps before heading over to the lined up gang members. He looked down the line, eventually locating the stocky gang leader, Shan Yu. He motioned to the nearest officer, who jogged over to meet him. "Bring Shan Yu inside for me, will you? Demyx will be getting the code to the office from him and then we'll meet up outside the office door. I'm going to secure the area." The officer nodded, not willing to question Axel's motives about going to secure an area that should have already been secured by the swat team. It was good to be in charge.

Axel returned to the warehouse, noting that Demyx had moved out of the room already. Guess there weren't so many guns to look through. Whiney bastard. He hoped Shan Yu gave him a hard time. Axel took off across the open floor towards a small door on the left wall. He had been through the place enough times to know where the major rooms were located. Shan Yu kept a neat little office in the back. If the Huns kept any records of their… business with the Red Army, it would be there.

He was just about to open the office door when he heard a large thud come from one of the other rooms along the hallway. A quick 360 sweep revealed no other people, friend or enemy. Not wanting to risk scaring off the intruder, Axel drew his gun and crept farther down the hallway. Another crash saved him from checking each doorway and he quickly moved towards the sound. The door was open a crack but he couldn't see anything through it, so he checked his gun one last time and pushed through.

The figure in the room turned around as he rushed in. Axel only focused on the gun in his hand. "Hollow Bastion police, put the weapon down! Put it down!" The person hesitated. Other voices were coming into the hallway, the officers Axel had asked to meet him, and the man finally put his weapon the floor.

"Hands behind your head." As the man complied, Axel slipped the cuffs from his belt and started forward. His foot stepped in something wet. Axel looked down to find the floor covered in blood. Not good. The other officers had come in and were removing the other man, so Axel followed the blood pool to a closet. He turned the handle and flung open the door… to be greeted by a body.

He could guess the man was already dead, but he checked for a pulse anyway. It gave him the chance to check the man's chest. There was a sword tattoo. Axel turned to the other officers. "Hey, don't let the one we just picked up mingle with the others. We don't want them to know we found the body. In fact, let's get these guys booked and sent down to the station before the medical examiner arrives."

Yes, he may always get stuck with the worst assignments but at least he would be the one to tell Leon about their most important find on the search. And having the captain happy with him was worth any amount of suffering.

* * *

Seymour was there to meet them at headquarters, much to Axel's dismay. The defense attorney sat with each member during their interviews, allowing them to say only repeat Shan Yu had said: they had no idea where the body came from and that the Huns were being targeted by another gang. Even the member whom Axel had found in room near the body stuck to the story and unfortunately for the detectives, the caliber of his gun didn't match any of the victims. Any attempt to question into what gang may have been behind the 'setup' was met with a patronizing "my client doesn't have to answer that" from Seymour. It was a frustrating end to a seemingly promising day.

"Of course they're lying, but we can't charge them with anything until we can prove it." Leon and Axel were having a brief meeting in the observation room, trying to decide how to extract information from the gang members. The captain paced while bouncing ideas off Axel. "The best we can do for now is to list them as possible witnesses in the case and recommend that they don't leave town. I might even be able to get a tail on Shan Yu, but that's not going to be enough. He'll just have one of his henchman continue the work and we can't watch all of them." The door to the room opened as Demyx came in to join them. "Nothing else turned up in the search?"

Demyx shook his head. "Nope. The Huns didn't have a weapon of that caliber on them or in the Black Hawk. Nothing even for Sora to test. They say they're more of the 9mm kind of guys but it's obvious they got rid of the weapon. But if all four victims were killed by the same gun and the most recent was only killed a few hours ago…"

"Then they had almost no time to dispose of it," Axel concluded. They were quiet, running out of ideas until Cloud stuck his head into the doorway. "I'm going to see what I can do to hold these guys until we can get something solid but in the meantime, there's someone here to see you. Says he needs to talk while Seymour is busy."

The three traded looks. "Zhou."

Maybe the day was finally looking up.

* * *

_What would you call someone from the Land of the Dragons? A lander? Dragonese? For the sake of my sanity, they're going to be 'imperials' for this story._

_So this chapter was bit more technical and scientific than previous ones but it had to happen. At least we're starting to dig more into why Roxas hates Riku with the fiery passion of a thousand suns (I love that expression)._

_Anyway, I again apologize for the lateness of this chapter. __I haven't heard back from my beta yet, so I apologize for any small errors, which I will got back and fix later. __I had the pleasure of being stuck in a cabin with my family for three weeks, without power or internet. All of you on the mid-east coast of the US know what storm I'm talking about. Fun. I did, however, get particularly creative in my boredom and now have hand-made Sora & Riku chibi plushies. Conveniently, we had peach, brown, black and white felt in our cabin where we got snowed in as well as thread, so that's what I did and I think he came out very nicely. I made him my profile picture. 3_

_Reviews get a hug from my Riku plushie! Anyone who gets the chapter title reference gets cookies __and a hug from both plushie!_


	6. Bringing a Mass Spec to a Gunfight

**Chapter 6: It's Like Bringing a Mass Spectrometer to a Gun Fight**

Bliss. Pure bliss. There was nothing quite as refreshing as a high-calorie, artificially flavored, whipped cream covered frozen coffee drink. Sora sipped his drink happily, watching the flurry of activity in the major case room from his seat at Riku's desk. The detectives were preparing to interrogate Zhou while Seymour was busy with the Huns and Sora still had another hour before he would start getting results from the morning's evidence. No one around and nothing to do. Not a good combination. He took another big slurp of his drink.

Well, there were plenty of things that _needed_ to be done but nothing he _wanted_ to do. He could go look at the Scrabble board but without Riku to joke around with it seemed more like work than a fun way to pass the time. There were a few evidence reports that he still needed to read over, but that was work too. Reading the dull reports was an activity better left for home, where he could curl up in bed with his laptop and Pluto. He could follow up with Shelinda, the girl from his academy interview, but she might need help with something and that would create even more work. Work, work, work. Everything led back to work.

So instead of doing anything productive, Sora just leaned back in Riku's chair and people-watched.

His surrounding area was empty but further on Sora could see Rikku and Paine at their desks, quizzing each other with flashcards. They were no doubt memorizing new information about their cover identities; the two had been undercover for nearly two years now, investigating the world of big business in order to bring down a number of investment scams. The other desks around them were empty. Most of the other undercover officers were placed in the gangs where they couldn't risk trips back to headquarters for risk of being seen associating with the police.

Further on was a group of swat detectives; although they were technically in the same department, Sora wasn't familiar with most of them. The swat members were only involved with physical confrontations with dangerous suspects and therefore didn't have much contact with Sora and his forensics lab. Early in his career as the Head of Forensics, Sora had tried to be friendly with the swat detectives but their pretentious natures and their willingness to listen to their 'gut' instinct over scientific fact made good relations impossible. Sora, along with most of the other detectives, just tended to ignore them.

Scattered in between the two groups of detectives were a handful of civilians, giving witness statements or bringing in leads on open cases. Sora narrowed his eyes at one civilian, a curvaceous blond who was going over a statement with one of the swat members. The two were spending more time groping each other than talking about the case. Gross. And he couldn't even suggest they get a room, because all the nearest rooms were forensics labs. The last thing he needed was them leaving something behind… he didn't want to explain _that_ to Leon. The captain had already become suspicious of Riku and him since Roxas had joined the force.

Thinking of the silveret, Sora glanced at the clock. Ugh. His people-watching had only wasted ten minutes. The Hun members were expected to be processed by three and Sora could bet that Leon would use all the time he could to talk to Zhou. And there was still another fifty minutes before he needed to head back to the lab.

He sighed and sunk further into Riku's chair. Riku's comfy chair. Sora's chair wasn't this padded. Using the desk to push off from, he spun the chair around a few times. It was even faster than his. Popping his head up, he glanced at Roxas' desk. Did all the detectives have better chairs than he did? A mini-investigation would certainly pass the time… and maybe result in a trip to Leon.

Throwing the now empty coffee drink in the trash as he passed, Sora circled the conjoined desks and plopped down into Roxas' chair. A wave of pain shot up his body. No, Roxas had the same suspension-less chair Sora did. He went back to Riku's desk, enjoying the small bounce as he sat down. Well, Roxas was the newest detective. Maybe they only got three nice chairs and Roxas didn't get one. He turned his attention to Axel and Demyx's desk.

Axel had been very clear that Sora wasn't welcome to snoop around their desk after Sora had accidentally caught one of Axel's case files on fire with a lighter he had found. Sora had felt a little guilty when Leon forced Axel to stay late and rewrite the report, but really, who kept a lighter in their desk next to the paper clips? As far as Sora knew, Axel didn't smoke and even if he did, the headquarters was a no smoking area and Leon wasn't the type to allow any sort of break.

But Sora wasn't going to go through their desks… only sit in their chairs. No harm with that. Axel and Demyx weren't around and they wouldn't be able to tell if their chairs had been briefly used by someone else. Not without the forensics department anyway, which Sora just happened to be the head of.

Despite his confident attitude, Sora still felt the need to sneak over to the other desk. He tried Demyx's chair first and was surprised to find it was different than the previous two. Not quite as nice as Riku's, it was missing a back pad crucial for lumbar support but it was still better than Roxas' and therefore better than Sora's too.

The variety of chairs made him even more curious about Axel's. He threw caution to the wind and scampered over to the last chair. He was about to sit down when a voice from the doorway startled him.

"Axel isn't going to like it if he finds you at his desk."

Sora whipped around. "Oh, I wasn't, no, you're wrong, I was…" then stopped when he saw who it was. "Oh, hey Kairi."

Kairi Riyu was Cloud's assistant and one of Sora's closest friends. Sora, Riku and her were, as Kairi liked to put it, the three musketeers. Sora and Riku had worked with her on her first case, a nasty murder-suicide where a therapist was charged with giving his patience a powerful antidepressant even after the patient had shown to have serious psychological problems while on the drug. They built a strong case together and won Kairi her spot as Cloud's assistant. They had remained friends afterwards, Riku's excuse being that it was always good to have a friend in the legal department and he didn't like Cloud but the three's relationship had grown to be more than professional. And entirely platonic.

Axel had started a bet going around about how long it would take Kairi to start dating Sora or Riku. Kairi was nice and funny and amazing but she was still a girl, a curvy, squishy, emotional, make-up wearing _girl_. Which was a no-go for Sora. And Riku seemed to be more in love with his cars and his job than a person; Sora didn't think he could remember the last time Riku showed interest in dating. With such a demanding job, it wasn't hard to see why.

So the three of them continued to beat the odds and remain friends without having any weird dating issues. And Sora always enjoyed keeping Axel from cashing in on a bet.

"Sooooora? You spaced out on me there for a second." Kairi waved her hand in front of his face.

Sora swatted it away playfully. "Kaiiiiiiri, I was thinking."

She laughed, putting her hands on her hips. "Sure you were. Did you get lost along the way or something? I know its uncharted territory for you." She laughed again when he stuck his tongue out at her.

He realized that he was still awkwardly posed over Axel's chair, so he took the opportunity to finish his investigation. Ignoring Kairi's disapproving look, he sat down. _Hmm._ Axel had the same awful chair that Roxas and Sora did. It wasn't seniority then, since Axel had been in the department longer than Demyx.

"Do you have a reason for sitting in Axel's chair or are you just proving that criminals always return to the scene of the crime?" Kairi had moved to sit in Demyx's chair, watching Sora from across the desk.

He glanced around, then motioned for her to lean in. "Riku and Demyx have nicer chairs than I do," he whispered, careful to not let the others in the room overhear.

Kairi snorted. "Riku always has nicer stuff."

"But it's Demyx too!"

She fell back into Demyx's chair experimentally, bouncing around with a serious look on her face. "Maybe they bought their own."

He frowned. "I don't think so. Riku would definitely do that but Demyx isn't the type of person to be too concerned about his desk chair." After a second, she reluctantly nodded in agreement.

They sat in silence for a minute. "Maybe they give nicer chairs out for good behavior. Like stickers in elementary school. Or toothbrushes at the dentist, although I never really got how that was considered a reward but-"

He was a second too late coming out of his rant to catch the look of warning Kairi threw at him before something grabbed him from behind.

"What the hell are you doing at my desk Sora!?" He was firmly seized by Axel, who easily lifted him up and out of the chair as Kairi giggled in the background. Sora wiggled out of the angry redhead's grasp and ran over to Riku who was just coming through the door. From the look on his face, Riku wasn't expecting Sora to throw himself into his arms but years of friendship had trained the silveret to always been ready for such acts. He caught Sora with ease, looking mildly confused until Kairi subtly pointed to Axel, who was checking the contents of his desk.

"Axel, stop harassing Sora." Riku awkwardly made his way over to Kairi, Sora still clinging tightly to his arm.

Axel sputtered angrily at Sora. "He was the one sitting at my desk! You know what happened last time that little spazz started snooping around my stuff.

"We don't have time for your arguments, Sora, Axel." Leon strode into the room with an air of annoyance. Sora let go of Riku and turned to check the clock; they shouldn't have been back for another hour. Something must have gone wrong.

He didn't even need to ask before Riku was whispering in his ear. "Zhou said they've had a man in the Huns since the Red Army first formed, which is how they've managed to stay under the radar all these years. It was a good scheme until one of their inside guys took off with a big Hun shipment and transferred it to Zhou. Apparently Shan Yu found out and is killing off Red Army members one by one until Zhou gives up the newest informant."

"Which just happens to be his daughter, Fa Mulan." Leon was already on the phone, probably calling Cloud. "Zhou lost contact with her after we brought him in. We need to find her before she does something stupid and gets killed."

* * *

"So I talked to Roxas…"

Riku was lounging on the table near Sora's computer, having just come out of hiding from Roxas. Leon had given the detectives orders to start calling up sources and following up leads on Mulan's whereabouts, which meant a lot of calling and waiting. Neither which were really Riku's… _style_. Axel and Demyx tended to accept the fact that Riku disappeared when he didn't feel like doing the work assigned but Roxas had insisted on spending over an hour searching headquarters looking for his missing partner.

"I should hope so. He is your partner after all." Not usually one to snap at people, Sora was annoyed with Riku's antics, not liking to see either of his friends wasting their time when someone's life depended on their work. It was only the fear of what Roxas would do to Riku if he found him hiding in Sora's lab that kept Sora from turning Riku in.

Riku jumped down and came over to stand by Sora. "C'mon, Sora, don't be like that. Two detectives finding leads are enough and we'll have three on it when Roxas finally settles down. Let those with that kind of talent handle that mess. When they find something, I'll be the first one out the door to go investigate."

With that smile, Sora couldn't stay mad at him. But that didn't mean he would let Riku off that easily. Without saying a word, he turned from the eager silveret. He could sense Riku hovering behind him and took a moment of pleasure at the normally cocky detectives' insecurity. Finally, he laughed and hugged the now growling Riku. "So you talked to Roxas about…?"

Riku grumbled as he took a seat on a nearby chair. "About why he hates me so much," Riku said, still a little sulky. "Apparently I remind him of someone from Twilight Town… you have any idea who that might be?"

Sora paused. The mention of Twilight Town brought back all of the "bad karma spirits" of the past. Roxas had loved that town; in high school, when Sora was planning his escape to Hollow Bastion, Roxas was perfectly content to stay in their small home town. His friends were there, his home was there, his life was there. No amount of pleading from Sora would make Roxas change his mind. So Sora had left and Roxas had stayed. Sora's life had been turned out perfectly while Roxas' life had been completely destroyed. Sora had always wondered if his best friend was resentful of his success. Roxas would never hold anything against Sora, but it was hard to imagine anyone accepting the situation without a little bit of reserve.

Riku was staring at him expectantly. Sora had told him the gist of the story but didn't feel comfortably sharing any more of Roxas' personal life. Especially with Riku, whom he couldn't trust to not use the information to taunt Roxas.

"Nope. No idea."

The ring of his cell phone saved him from further interrogation, as he was sure Riku didn't buy his denial. "Thank you for calling Sora's cellphone, this is Sora, how may I help you?"

"Hey, Sora, I-" Click.

Sora snapped the phone shut and threw it across the room, barely missing the trash can on the other side. No points for him. Going immediately back to his computer, he could feel Riku's concerned gaze on his back but couldn't bring himself to turn around, especially as the phone kept ringing. It wasn't until after the next few sets of rings stopped that he finally swiveled around to explain.

"OK, so, I dated this guy I met at a forensics conference a month ago for like, a week. He was pretty cool at first but then he started asking about where I work and the layout of the building and stuff so I was worried that he was going to try to rob my lab but now I'm pretty sure he's just creepy. Or unaware of what the words 'Stop calling me' mean."

For some reason, Riku had suddenly tensed when Sora started talking and was still frozen when Sora finished. "Ah, Riku, hey-"

"Did you sleep with him?"

Having been balancing his chair precariously while leaning towards Riku to talk, Sora nearly fell off at the question. Quickly righting himself, Sora glanced around the lab. It would be just like his underlings to walk in at a time like this. But luckily for him, the lab was otherwise empty. He turned back to Riku who was now giving him an intense look.

"Riku! I admit to you that some guy is stalking me and all you want to know is if I slept with him?" His tone started off angry but slipped into a pout. Riku was supposed to be the one to sympathize with him and then offer help. Sora wouldn't have told Riku if he knew the detective was going to pull a Kairi on him.

"Well?"

Sora realized he had still yet to offer any answer. He should have danced around the question more before answering, just to teach Riku a lesson about asking such questions, but for some reason he just couldn't bring himself to tease his friend when he looked so concerned.

"No, Riku, I did not sleep with him. I do not sleep with guys I have known for a couple of weeks. Really, is that how highly you think of me?"

Riku mumbled some sort of apology and Sora was glad to drop the subject. Riku may be one of his best friends but that didn't mean Sora wanted to have a discussion about his sex life (or lack thereof) in the middle of work. He found himself vaguely wishing that the other detectives would hurry up and find a lead about Mulan's whereabouts, just so Riku would have something else to think about.

Getting back to work, Sora considered how he might be able to help the other detectives. The Huns weren't afraid to publicly declare their territories and hang-outs, but there were too many to try and issue a search warrant for every possible location. Mulan hadn't used a credit card or withdrawn cash since entering the gang but it was possible that she could have opened another account in a different name. He should ask Leon to ask Zhou if Mulan ever went by any other names…

"So, what kind of guys do you sleep with?"

Sora managed not to fall off the chair this time, but instead whipped around to face a much too innocent looking Riku.

"What's with all these questions? You're as bad as Kairi, asking me for help with… oh."

Sora felt stupid for not realizing it earlier. Kairi always came to Sora with relationship problems and for advice with… the other stuff. Not trying to inflate his own ego, Sora was a master at the art of getting people into bed. Not that he put his advice to work as much as Kairi did. She must have told Riku to come to Sora. Which meant that Riku liked somebody enough to be interested in sex with them. It was this last part that came as a biggest shock to Sora. When the three of them went drinking, it was always Sora and Kairi lamenting over their latest relationship failures while Riku offered support. The last relationship Riku had that Sora knew about was with the pretty car saleswoman who had sold him his last car. And that had been over three years ago. But apparently Sora was no longer up to date on Riku's dating habits.

Riku, for his part, looked confused as to why Sora had drifted off so suddenly. A small voice in Sora's head let out a cry of joy; maybe Riku was just asking for fun. Sora tried not to be too happy with this thought. Riku deserved to meet someone. He shouldn't be jealous.

At least Riku's question was easier to answer than the ones Kairi asked. "Well, like I said, I wouldn't date someone unless I've known them for awhile. And know them well. No acquaintances. I have to know that they're not an ax murderer looking for their next victim or really horny and looking for an quickie. Or married. I have to like them, obviously. I usually try to not go out with people unless I really like them anyway. And it has to be at his house… I don't want to wake up the next morning and find all my stuff missing. No weird fetishes. I mean, if you can't go one night without playing out some crazy fantasy than you need to seek help. And…"

But Riku was smiling at him at this point and Sora could feel a blush rising. "Too much information?"

To his surprise, Riku answered, "Nope, I got just what I need," before flipping open his phone to answer a text Sora never heard him receive. Yup, he had definitely been rambling. About his sex life. To Riku. At work. Sora let his head fall onto the desk with a _thump_.

"Axel and Demyx are going to interview a possible witness who might have seen Mulan at a recent gang meeting. No other leads though, so it looks like Roxas and I will be stuck transporting Zhou to a safe house."

Sora gingerly picked up his head, regretting his dramatic move as a bruise formed on his forehead. "Are you two going to staying at the safe house?"

Riku sighed, a frown appearing on his face. "Probably. You know Leon won't trust anyone else to keep Zhou out of trouble."

"Great." The last time Riku had done a safe house assignment, he had been gone for nearly two weeks and Sora hadn't been allowed to contact him at all. Now, Roxas would be leaving too…

Sora's annoyance must have been obvious because Riku ruffled his hair and tried to reassure him that this mission wouldn't be as long. But any length of separation was too long. Sora hated not having someone to eat lunch with everyday or go drinking with. Which is why when Riku started to leave, Sora immediately jumped at the chance to walk him outside.

Sora thought about bringing up his chair investigation during the brief trip through the building, but he didn't want to seem any goofier than their last conversation had revealed. He tucked the question back into his head for a later time.

They met up with Leon and Roxas in the main entrance, the latter giving Riku a frustrated "Look who managed to show up" much to other's amusement. Sora would have comforted him but it was probably good for Roxas to learn all of his partner's little habits. Sora didn't see Riku changing his ways any time soon.

"HBPD is currently watching Zhou downstairs. You two will pick up in the back, escort him to the assigned safe house and stay with him until we contact you. Riku, you know the drill and Roxas has informed me that he has done protective missions before so I trust there will be no mistakes." Leon turned and left, even before getting confirmation from his detectives.

"Don't worry, he's just nervous about finding Mulan in time," Sora reassured Roxas, who looked disturbed by Leon's attitude.

Roxas didn't look totally convinced, but seemed to push the thought from his mine. He turned to Riku and asked "What now?"

"Now, we do what our captain says and transport our witness. The unmarked cars are out back." Riku didn't give Roxas an opportunity to ask more questions, tossing a set of keys in his direction before quickly striding out of the room. Sora and Roxas briefly traded looks before running to catch up.

Falling into step with Sora, Roxas looked briefly at Riku before asking, "Are you coming with us?"

Sora had to stifle a laugh at the blond's pleading tone. "Nope. Just making the most of the time we have. Y'know you can't contact anyone while with Zhou, right?"

Roxas snorted. "Yeah, that's my problem. The only people I'm going to have to talk to are Riku and Zhou. Lucky me." Riku glanced behind at them to shoot Roxas a nasty look.

Outside headquarters, they were greeted by rows of seemingly normal cars. The force put most of its automobile funds into unmarked police cruisers. In a city such as Hollow Bastion, announcing police present was a sure fire way to send the criminals into back alleys and abandoned buildings where they were unlikely to be found.

One row of sporty cars, however, looked out of place amongst the standard models. These cars were the only ones occupied and Sora would have taken a better look at the drivers if Riku hadn't suddenly pushed him behind a concrete pillar.

Starting to work up a complaint about the rough treatment, Sora was cut off by a barrage of gunfire. Bullets hit the other side of the pillar, sending concrete chunks flying out around the sides of their hiding place. Sora was immediately thankful for Riku's quick reaction as the silveret rose from his defensive position over Sora to draw his gun. Sora sunk down to the ground as Riku began returning fire, trying to keep out of Riku's way while still staying out of the line of the enemy bullets. Whoever the enemy was.

A movement to his right caught his attention. Roxas, who had managed to duck safely behind the concrete flowerbed, was slowly making his way down to parking lot. Sora let Riku know with a quick tap and a point but there wasn't much he could do from their currently location. Looking back to check on his friend, Sora found that Roxas was no longer in his line of sight. He could only hope that it was because Roxas was still moving forward and not because he had gotten hit.

Leon and a few of the swat team members were moving in from the sides of the parking lot and within a few minutes the offenders stopped shooting and made a mad dash out to the road. The screeching of tires told Sora that a few detectives were going to chase down the cars but Sora's only concern was for Riku, whose arm was now covered in blood.

Wordlessly, Riku offered Sora a hand and helped his up before pulling Sora into a crushing hug. "You alright?" Riku said, finally releasing Sora.

Sora didn't answer, immediately pulling up Riku's sleeve despite his protests. It looked like the bullet only grazed his arm but there was still an awful lot of blood. Sora did the first thing he could think of; he hugged Riku's arm tightly, trying to keep the pressure on the wound. Riku flinched at the initially contact but let Sora hang on until Leon arrived with Zexion and case of medical supplies.

Reassured by Zexion that Riku's wound only needed to be cleaned up and bandaged, Sora finally looked around at the damage. The building wall and outside pillars were now riddled with bullet holes. The sight was frightening but more than anything else, Sora felt angry. What sort of people had the audacity to open fire at cops at the police headquarters?

"The Huns must have gotten word about Zhou's relocation." Leon, probably having sense Sora's raging emotions, put his hand on Sora's shoulder comfortingly. "Probably through that defense attorney Seymour. Cloud always thought he had some affiliation to the gang but I'm not sure I believed it until now. Maybe this will even be enough for an investigation, who knows."

But the way Leon said it didn't reassure Sora. Leon was good at reading people's emotions but so was Sora and it felt as if the captain was trying to distract Sora from something. Some he hadn't noticed yet.

Sora went cold.

"Leon, where's Roxas?"

* * *

_Today's my birthday! Woo! And I wanted to get something updated so I can look at that nice "updated" date so I apologize in advance for any mistakes in this chapter. I only did a few quick read-throughs before uploading it in order to get this up before I head out to dinner. I'll go back and be more thorough later. If you're reading my other fic, that one will be updated this weekend.  
_

_Oh no! Poor Roxas! Well, if you read the pairings list in the beginning of this fic, you can probably assume that he's not dead/dying/fatally wounded. Next chapter will be from Roxas' POV and should be up within a week or two... it's 80% done already. Weird how those plot bunnies come frolicking in right after I submit my 40page research paper... hmm._

_A little side note about pairings in general too... I'm not one of those people who can throw characters into relationships within the first few chapters of a fic. I'm a sucker for plot, and it always seems to come first in my writing. I apologize to anyone whose been wanting more of that kind of stuff in here... we're getting to it, I promise. ;)_

_This case ends in two chapters! But the fic will continue. Certain cases will feature certain characters... but I haven't decided who I'm doing next.  
_

_Please leave a review on your way out! I am way impressed by the hits on this fic (from countries that I had to look up to see where they were. crazy!) but reviews make me even happier!_


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